Missouri Women's Basketball Dominates Southeastern Missouri in All-Around Team Effort
Coming off a tough overtime loss at Virginia, the Missouri Tigers grabbed their sixth win of the season in a dominant 88-43 showing over the Southeast Missouri Redhawks.
Hannah Linthacum, the 6-foot-4 freshman forward, made her first start in place of injured Angelique Ngalakulondi, whose left arm was seen in a sling after getting injured in Thursday's game against Virginia. Linthacum had her best game as a Tiger, finishing with nine points and six rebounds. Besides her on-court impact, Linthacum was the team's energy leader, often seen chest bumping teammates and loudly cheering after any big play.
“I'm just trying to pour into others around me and make them the best I can be with my energy,” Linthacum said.
Fellow freshman Grace Slaughter made her impact known immediately, hitting a jumper from the left side of the box followed by a smooth 3-pointer, helping her pick up seven first quarter points before finishing with 11 points and five rebounds.
Both teams attempted to play it quick in transition, resulting in some early turnovers for both sides. Missouri finished the first quarter with seven turnovers, while the Redhawks had six. The Tigers still led 18-7 after the first quarter, in large part to their strong 3-point shooting and shut down defense. Missouri finished the game with 13 turnovers, just below their season average of 15.1 per game.
It was a day for the Tigers' whole roster to get some important playing minutes. Nine different players played in the first half alone, and despite Missouri’s 41-19 halftime lead, only one Tiger — Slaughter — scored double digits.
“I thought a lot of players did a lot of good things. We did a great job playing unselfish," Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said.
By the time the final whistle blew, 11 different Tigers saw action on the court, with all but Mama Dembele scoring. The trio of Linthacum sisters each had a bucket in the same game for the first time this season. Hayley Frank, Abbey Schreacke, Ashton Judd, Slaughter and Abby Feit all scored in the double digits.
The biggest reason the Tigers pulled away so easily was consistent shooting behind the arc and in the paint. The Tigers shot 56 percent from the field and 35 percent from behind the arc. This, along with 13 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points, put the Tigers' lead out of reach for much of the game.
The Tigers' defense was a solid wall all night. Missouri held SEMO to just 27 percent field goal shooting and 19 percent 3-point shooting. The Redhawks averaged 74 points per game coming into the matchup, but could only get up 43 against the Tigers.
"I think we've done a much better job with our transition defense than we started at the beginning of the month," Pingeton said.
The Redhawks struggled to get around Missouri defenders and often used most of the shot clock before getting up an attempt. Jaliyah Green and Alecia Doyle, both averaging 15 points per game, were held to five and seven points, respectively. SEMO only had one player score in double digits, with Daejah Richmond scoring 10.
Missouri will next play Wednesday night against another in-state opponent, Missouri State. Tipoff from Mizzou Arena is set for 6 p.m. CST.
