Mizzou trailed for the first six minutes after a strong Saint Louis start, looking eerily similar to the Illinois game. But the Tigers responded in a major way, taking the lead (and holding it the rest of the way) to defeat SLU on the road 82-66.
Both teams made exactly 25 field goals in the game, so Mizzou found extra points on triples and from the free throw line. The Tigers finished the game 22-27 from the stripe while the Billikens finished 9-14. On threes, the Tigers were 10-29 while the Billikens were 7-29.
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“The ability to shoot the three allows us to have some driving lanes and to keep that that attack and aggressiveness on,” head coach Kellie Harper said. “You [have] got to make them, and our team takes a lot of pride in being able to knock down free throws and shoot them at a good percentage.”
Chloe Sotell was perhaps the player who best exemplified those advantages, scoring 16 points on 4-7 from deep and 2-4 from the line. She was one of the three Tigers with 16 points alongside Grace Slaughter and Shannon Dowell.
Jayla Smith played a huge role off the bench with 13 points and four assists while shooting 4-6 from the field, 2-3 from deep and a perfect 3-3 from the line.
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“She can shoot the ball, she can put the ball on the floor. She’s athletic,” Harper said. “I think she’s really embraced her role.”
Both teams struggled with turnovers, as Mizzou held a narrow advantage 17-19. The Tigers took advantage of those opportunities as well, winning the points off turnovers battle 22-14.
With all that said, Harper still recognizes the room for improvement.
“I thought we had some unnecessary turnovers,” Harper said. “I thought we had too many walks, too many step out of bounds, just little things that, to be a really good team…you got to cut those out.”
Another struggle was the rebounding game, as SLU won the battle 47-38. A big part of that came from 20 offensive rebounds for the Billikens.
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“I’m circling one, one thing on the stat sheet is that 20 offensive boards, that’s a lot,” Harper said. “It’s going to be hard for us to rebound the rest of the year, and it has to be a great focus of our team.”
Here’s how the game played out:
Mizzou started slow, turning the ball over four times and trailing 8-2 at the media timeout. Coming out of the break the Tigers flipped a switch, finishing the quarter on a 15-6 run to take a three-point lead after 10 minutes. The change came as Mizzou did a better job holding onto the ball, leading to better shots in the halfcourt. Two crucial threes from Abbey Schreacke and Smith made the difference, as Saint Louis made none in the first frame. It was offense by committee early on, with six different Tigers recording a field goal early on.
The second quarter belonged to the Tigers, winning the quarter 25-13 to take a 42-27 lead at the break. Mizzou forced seven SLU turnovers, turning those opportunities into easy transition buckets. After scoring no points in the first, Sotell came alive with eight points in a two-minute span; including burying a pair of threes.
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The third quarter was quite even as Mizzou led 60-46 heading into the final frame. Both offenses found success on threes, making a combined seven triples in the quarter. Turnovers were a wash this quarter as each team finished with four. Threes from Slaughter and Sotell pushed both players into double-digit points for the game.
The fourth quarter was more of the same, as Mizzou kept Saint Louis at bay for the 82-66 win. It was an offensive showing for both sides, combining for 42 points. This was where the Tigers shot the majority of their free throws, finishing the quarter 13-17 from the line. Dowell made 5-6 free throws in the quarter while adding 7 points in the frame.
Now at 10-3, the Tigers have built a solid non-conference resume under Kellie Harper. Mizzou hopes to avoid an upset when North Alabama comes to town at 12 p.m. next Sunday at Mizzou Arena. The game will be available to watch on SEC Network+ through the ESPN app.
