Despite Triple Double from Mama Dembele, Women's Basketball Loses Sixth Straight
Looking to snap a five game losing streak, the Missouri Tiger’s got behind early before a third quarter push in a 70-59 loss to Auburn. Missouri was previously unbeaten at home against Auburn, but could not prevail on Super Bowl Sunday.
Instead of the usual black and gold clad crowd, it was an array of pink, for the Breast Cancer awareness game, and Chiefs red in anticipation of the night's Super Bowl. Auburn and Missouri also met four years ago on Super Bowl Sunday with the same Chiefs-49ers matchup, with both Missouri and the Chiefs winning in 2020.
The crowd was not rewarded with a Missouri bucket until over four minutes into the game, when Mama Dembele hit a three to finally get the Tiger’s on the board. Missouri started the game committing three offensive turnovers in their first three possessions, a trend that has plagued the team during its losing streak.
"I thought our slow start really hurt us," said Missouri Head Coach Robin Pingeton.
Auburn finished the first quarter with a 16-8 lead, in large part thanks to guard Honesty Scoot-Grayson’s eight points. Scott-Grayson went on to torch Missouri, finishing with 24 points and five rebounds.
"She's a multidimensional scorer," said Auburn Head Coach Johnnie Harris. "I think she is good at reading the defenses and taking what they give her. She can shoot the three, pull up jumper, have one or two or three dribbles and she can get to the rim and finish stuff."
Missouri, the SEC’s second best three point shooting percentage team, struggled from behind the arc in the first quarter, shooting just 22 percent, way under their 36 percent season average. This did improve throughout the rest of the game, with Missouri finishing shooting 37 percent from three.
Missouri continued to struggle to develop an offensive flow during the second quarter. Starters Ashton Judd and Hannah Linthacum went scoreless in the first half and freshman Abbey Schraecke was Missouri’s leading scorer at the half, with eight points. Missouri struggled to finish at the rim and looked small against Auburn’s starters. Auburn led 33-21 at halftime and was much more successful in the paint, shooting 41 percent to Missouri’s 31 percent.
Halftime sparked a change for the Missouri Tigers as they came out and made the game much more competitive. Back to back three pointers from Ashton Judd and Dembele cut Auburn’s lead to just six with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Then, Missouri went on a 7-0 run to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip at 48-48.
"I think they [the Missouri team] had some really great conversations at halftime and their ability to recalibrate and get refocused and take that deep breath," said Pingeton. "I feel like we knew we didn't play very well in that first half and we kind of had to reset a little bit and I thought they did a great job coming up after halftime and doing just that."
Dembele and Grace Slaughter were instrumental in bringing the Tigers back in the game. Missouri hit threes at a rapid pace and besides letting Scoot-Grayson score, locked down Auburn on defense. Auburn led 53-48 after three, but Missouri had major momentum brewing.
However, this energy was not able to be brought into the fourth quarter, as Auburn pulled away from Missouri once again, never letting the Tigers get back into the game as Auburn won 70-59.
With leading scorer Hayley Frank out for her third straight game, the Tigers needed someone else to step up. Dembele did so, but despite her best efforts, it was not enough to prevent Missouri from losing their sixth straight game. Dembele finished with a triple double- 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. This was the first Missouri triple double since 2011. Dembele leads the SEC with 6.6 assists per game and is second in steals, with 3.1 per game.
"I gotta be honest, I don't really care because we didn't win," said Dembele. "It's nice on the paper but I didn't get it done out there. I took responsibility in the first half because I didn't set the tone as a leader."
With the loss, Missouri falls to 11-13 on the season and 2-9 in the SEC. The Tiger’s will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks next Sunday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m.
