Strong first quarter sends Florida past Mizzou
| February 23, 2024 | Sports,
The Missouri Tigers women’s basketball team traveled to Gainesville looking to right the ship against a Florida team that had dropped their last two. The Gators had other plans. Florida opened the game by shooting 12-12 from the field and 3-3 from behind the three point line en route to an 86-70 victory. Florida’s hot start from the field gave them a 28-6 lead with 4:18 to go in the first quarter. The Gators would go 15-24 from the field in the first quarter, 5-9 from beyond the arc and hold a 23 point lead after the first quarter.
Hayley Frank looked to get the Tigers back into the game as she opened the second quarter with the first four points, cutting the Florida lead down to 19. Mizzou would continue to struggle from the field. After Frank got the scoring started in the second, Mizzou would go 2:14 without a bucket until Abbey Schreacke hit a three pointer, trimming the Florida lead down to 20. The Tigers’ offensive troubles were more than just its scoring, as they committed 13 turnovers in the game. Florida wasn’t just forcing Mizzou turnovers, but they were capitalizing on them as well. When the two teams headed to the locker room, Florida had 26 points off turnovers, while Mizzou had only forced three Florida turnovers and had no points to show for it.
While Mizzou opened the second half trailing 55-30, things started looking up for the Tigers. Mizzou would put together three separate runs. Their third run consisted of two Abbey Schreacke 3-pointers and a Mama Dembele layup that cut the Florida lead down to 14 with 2:18 to play in the third quarter. Florida would counter the Mizzou run with an 8-0 run from 1:45 to 0:37 to play in the third, taking a 20 point lead into the fourth.
Both teams got out to a slow start in the fourth quarter. Mizzou outscored Florida 7-2 across the first 2:47 of the quarter. The Tigers took full advantage of the free throw line in the fourth quarter, hitting 9 of 10 from the charity stripe. A timely 3-pointer from Abbey Schreacke cut the once-28 point Florida lead down to 10 with 3:21 to play. Mizzou and Florida would go back and forth for the next 1:52, until Florida went on a 7-0 scoring run to put the game out of reach.
Although Mizzou suffered their eighth straight loss, there were some silver linings. Abbey Schreacke and Grace Slaughter combined for 30 of Mizzou’s 70 points. The two freshmen are setting themselves up for strong sophomore campaigns. The Tigers also showed a lot of fight throughout the four quarters. After falling behind 36-13 at the end of the first, the Tigers outscored the Gators 57-50 the rest of the way. Mizzou is back in action at home Monday against Ole Miss. Florida will head down to Athens to take on Georgia on Sunday.