The Missouri Tigers have had 15 chances to win a home opener in head coach Robin Pingeton’s tenure in Columbia.
Thursday night, they won No. 15.
The Tigers beat the Southern Jaguars 66-51 at Mizzou Arena in a matchup where the Tigers had a lot of things to clean up.
“Not where we want to be yet, we’re not supposed to be there yet in November,” Pingeton said. “… Still trying to figure out rotations, lineups. Looking at a lot of different things. I think one of our strengths is our depth, but how do we utilize that in a way that is going to be most advantageous for our team?”
Missouri committed 20 turnovers after piling up 26 in their season-opening matchup at Vermont.
They improved the four assists they had in Game 1 to 15, but still struggled with falling out of rhythm after the first quarter.
“Ball security is going to be something that keeps me up at night,” Pingeton said. “It did the past week and it will continue to do so until we get that figured out.”
The Tigers came out of the gate strong, led by junior Ashton Judd with a second-chance layup on the game’s first possession.
It was the first of Judd’s 13 points and six rebounds to go with four steals, three assists and a block.
“She’s one of our hardest workers,” Pingeton said of Judd. “… She’s worked really, really hard in the offseason and I think she’s really trying to step up as a leader for us.”
Missouri would hold the lead Judd gave it through the rest of the game, though Southern never fell too far back.
Two Judd free throws made it 9-4 Tigers with 6:04 left in the first quarter, then neither team scored for two minutes before Grace Slaughter hit two free throws to make it 11-4 with 3:57 left.
Slaughter ended with a team-high 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor, 2-of-3 from 3 and 5-of-8 from the free-throw line.
It was the second time in two opportunities Slaughter led the team in scoring after putting up 16 points against Vermont.
Laniah Randle then grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a putback layup, the first of her double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“She’s got a chance to be a really explosive player for us, I think she can impact the game and elevate,” Pingeton said of Randle.
Randle (20), Slaughter (17) and Judd (17) all had a plus-minus greater than the final margin.
“Our team pushes each other a lot and we’re really aggressive,” Randle said.
Missouri continued its run through the end of the first quarter, taking the lead from 7-4 with 6:35 left to 21-4 at the break, ending with an Abbey Schreacke left-corner 3 at the buzzer.
Southern missed its final 11 shots of the first quarter.
It got started quicker in the second, though.
The Jaguars quickly cut the lead to 24-16 after Aniya Gourdine hit a fast-break layup, then got back to an eight-point deficit when D’shantae Edwards hit a 3 with 4:26 left before halftime.
Judd responded with a 3 to recreate a double-digit lead, but Tionna Lidge hit a jumper at the buzzer to cut it back to single digits, sending the game into halftime with the Tigers leading 31-22.
Missouri’s offense got working again in the third quarter, never allowing Southern to get back within 10 points after a Slaughter 3 made it 39-27 with 5:40 left.
That started a 12-0 run for the Tigers, ending with two Nyah Wilson free throws to make it 48-27 with 2:05 left before the final break.
Southern cut the lead back to 15, but Schreacke hit her second buzzer-beating 3 to send the Tigers into the fourth quarter up 51-33.
Missouri hovered between a 15- and 20-point lead throughout the fourth quarter, but Southern did cut the game as close as 13 at two points with 3:27 and 2:57 left to play.
Missouri shot 23-of-50 (46 percent) overall, 8-of-24 (33.33 percent) from 3 and 12-of-21 (57 percent) at the free throw line. The Jaguars made 19-of-53 (36 percent) from the field, 4-of-15 (27 percent) from 3 and 9-of-22 (41 percent) at the line.
The Tigers outrebounded the Jaguars 41-30, led 13-1 in second-chance points and 16-5 in bench points.
Missouri (1-1) will play the middle of a three-game homestand when it hosts Norfolk State at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss this game and so much more.
