Mizzou WBB Continues Home Success, Defeats LSU 52-46


By: Drew Pilewski
Mizzou prevailed over conference foe LSU 52-46 Thursday night at Mizzou Arena. This raises their record to 17-4 and 4-4 in conference.
Coming into this game, Mizzou was boasting a 16-4 record, but had lost four of their last seven. They had quite the test against the LSU Tigers.
The first quarter was all Mizzou from the get-go. MU jumped out to a 16-4 lead early on and did not give it up thanks to a vicious full court press and outstanding three point shooting. This early lead caused LSU coach Nikki Fargas to burn two of her timeouts in the first four minutes of play. Mizzou closed out the quarter with a half-court buzzer-beater by Juanita Robinson to get the crowd on their feet.
Early on in the second quarter, LSU gave the ball away on three straight possessions. This allowed Mizzou to keep their lead early on. LSU simply lacked energy in this second quarter as they gave Mizzou chance after chance on the offensive boards. Mizzou extended their lead to 27-10 with 4:43 left in the second quarter and the game looked out of reach for LSU early on. Despite some turnovers late in the half, Coach Robin Pingeton had to be happy with Mizzou’s performance. Her counterpart, however, had to have been giving her players an earful in the locker room.
LSU started out on the front foot in the third quarter. Whatever team talk Coach Fargas gave her players in the locker room at the half definitely paid off dividends. LSU cut the lead to single digits with 6:00 left in the third quarter. It was Alexis Hyder for LSU who provided the spark. She had 15 of LSU’s first 35 points.
In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Morgan Stock hit a pair of threes from the corner to extend Mizzou’s lead to eight with 6:11 left. Mizzou’s defense stepped up in a big way in the final quarter, where LSU did not score a point from the field even as the clock wound past two minutes remaining in the game. Morgan Stock added another three pointer with 1:29 left in the game to put Mizzou up 46-37. Mizzou turned the ball over twice in the last 30 seconds of the game, but their free throw shooting was just good enough to keep the lead.
Mizzou’s next game is at Ole Miss this Sunday at 4 p.m. CST.

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