Mizzou women’s basketball falls to No. 2 Texas 89-71

Mizzou women’s basketball came out of the gates on fire, taking a double-digit lead on the No. 2 undefeated Longhorns in the first three minutes. But the Tigers could not match Texas for the full 40 minutes, losing their SEC opener 89-71.

Texas won this game thanks to two categories: offensive rebounding and turnovers. Mizzou finished the game with a season-high 30 turnovers, which led to 36 points for the Longhorns. A combined 19 of those came from Lisa Thompson and Saniah Tyler, the two point guards on the roster. Abbey Schreacke was the only Tiger to not record a turnover. A big part of this came due to the Longhorns’ press which consistently trapped Mizzou in the backcourt.

“They make you play 1-on-1, they will not allow you to free flow through your offense,” head coach Kellie Harper said. “We couldn’t get open to make passes, and when we were open we were under such duress, we couldn’t make a pass. That’s part of their game plan. That’s who they are.”

While Texas only won the rebound battle by four, they dominated on the offensive glass 21-7. They managed to turn these 21 offensive rebounds into 24 second-chance points. This came from the simple height advantage, as the Longhorns had two players in the rotation listed at 6-foot-4 or taller; Mizzou’s tallest player is Jordana Reisma at only 6-foot-3.

“There’s not a game left on our schedule that we’re going to have more offensive boards and then our opponents,” Harper said. “We choose we give up some opportunities on the offensive boards to get ourselves back defensively and give ourselves a chance to guard. So we give and take there.”

Mizzou kept it close with some efficient shooting, finishing with splits of 54/63/81. Grace Slaughter led the team in scoring with 20 points while shooting 6-13 on field goals, 3-4 on threes and 5-6 on free throws. Schreacke and Chloe Sotell were the other Tigers in double-digits with 15 and 11 points respectively. These three players each made three triples each, making the vast majority of the team’s 12.

“They helped a lot off of our drives, we were able to get some drives to the paint, we had that prepped and ready,” Schreacke said. “We found the shooters, we were shooting at such a high clip.”

Texas guard Ashton Judd made her return to Mizzou Arena, where she spent three years as a Tigers. The Missouri native was a key contributor off the bench with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Here’s how the whole game played out:

Mizzou started the game red hot with a 17-5 run to catch the Longhorns by surprise. The Tigers forced turnovers and broke the press to find easy shot opportunities early. Combine those easy opportunities with good shooting and the team started 6-6 from the filed. Texas bounced back with a 15-7 run to end the quarter, but the Tigers still led by four through 10 minutes. Grace Slaughter helped keep the Longhorns at bay, leading both teams with eight points in the quarter. As a team the Tigers shot 9-13 on field goals and 5-6 on threes.

Texas seemed to find their groove in the second quarter, highlighted by an 11-2 run to take their first lead of the game at 37-33. This was a combination of Texas cleaning up on the offensive glass and the Longhorn defense forcing the Tigers into mistakes. Mizzou turned the ball over nine times in the second quarter and a total of 15 times in the first half. The Tigers managed to keep the game close at the half, only trailing 41-38. Slaughter worked her way up to 15 points while Thompson provided key secondary scoring with seven on a perfect 3-3 from the field. As a team six different Tigers scored in the half.

The Longhorns finally pushed away in the third quarter, leading 68-56 through three quarters. It happened in an instant, as an 11-0 Texas run in only two minutes and 11 seconds gave them its biggest lead up to that point at 15. Schreacke did her best to keep the Tigers in this one, scoring eight points on two-made threes in the quarter to bring her up to 11 points in the game.

The fourth quarter was relatively quiet, as Texas kept Mizzou at bay to secure the win. The closest the Tigers got was 10 points, before the Longhorns pulled away for the 18-point victory.

Mizzou (12-4, 0-1 SEC) looks to bounce back against yet another tough opponent as they travel to face No. 11 Kentucky (14-1, 1-0) at 11 a.m. on Sunday in Lexington. The game will be available to watch on the regular SEC Network channel.