Heading into the locker room at halftime, Missouri women's basketball knew it would have to play catch up for the rest of the game.
With both squads coming off hard-fought wins in the Southeastern Conference, the competition was thick and the game went down to the final seconds. Aijha Blackwell missed her first 3-point attempt but landed the second to put Missouri within two points. Then, LSU inbounded the ball and ran the clock out, escaping Missouri 66-64.
The story of the night was defense, which is something LSU (6-6, 4-2) has come to be known for, playing full-court press almost the entire game. LSU did what it does best and turned defense into offense, giving itself a comfortable lead for the majority of the matchup.
During the first half, Missouri (5-4, 1-3) dug itself into a hole, struggling to hit shots and going on one too many scoring droughts in the second quarter. The immense pressure from LSU's starting squad caused a chilly offensive performance. Four out of five of LSU's starters snagged a steal within the first half of the game. This made catching up tough for a Missouri squad that turns over the ball around 15 times a game.
"I give LSU a ton of credit, you know they're a really good defensive team," coach Robin Pingeton said. "Their ability to create opportunities off of turnovers, we didn't play that well. We wanted to play north to south and when we would break their pressure, it seemed that we would exhale, then we'd have about 12 seconds to run our offense."
What made catching up even more difficult was the duo of guard Kayla Pointer and center Faustian Aifuwa. Aifuwa was a bully, making her extremely hard to contain whenever she got the ball or snatched up an offensive rebound. The 6-foot-5 senior finished the night with 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Pointer was just as unstoppable, as she led her team in scoring with 22 points. Every time LSU needed a chin-check shot, Pointer knocked it down, washing away chance after chance for Missouri to tie the game up.
When Missouri finally did break down LSU, it was too late. Despite its unsuccessful comeback , Pingeton's squad showed resiliency as LSU manhandled them for three quarters. Missouri still had solid performances from Lauren Hansen, Ladazhia Williams and Hayley Frank. Following Blackwell's 14 points, Williams reeled in 11 hard-fought points when the paint was crowded with Aifuwa and Awa Trasi.
Frank, who scored her season-high 23 points last game against Ole Miss, finished with nine points . Missouri's saving grace was the fourth quarter. Hansen had an explosion in the final quarter, scoring seven of her nine points in a couple of minutes. After she fouled out, Blackwell picked up from there, scoring nine points of her own. Showcasing that passion in the last 10 minutes was one of few positives Missouri could walk away with in Monday's close loss.
"I think in the fourth quarter, our backs were against the wall, and it was do or die at that point," Hansen said. "I think we all just felt like we needed to go out and compete, and we can't let the game run away from us on our home floor. I think we need to come out with that mentality, but we definitely picked it up in the fourth quarter."
As the stands cleared out, Blackwell put up shot after shot with one of the Missouri trainers catching her rebounds and passing the ball right back to her.
Missouri will have another tough matchup against No. 8 Texas A&M at 4 p.m. Sunday at home.
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January 19, 2021 at 07:39AM
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Missouri falls short against LSU - Columbia Missourian
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