Mizzou led from near start-to-finish as they held on to defeat Tulane 77-69 in New Orleans.
Missouri separated themselves in the third quarter, outscoring Tulane 22-13 to take a 55-44 lead they would hold the rest of the game. Mizzou came out of halftime swinging with a triple from Abbey Schreacke and a steal-and-score finished with a layup from Shannon Dowell to force a Tulane timeout. This was part of a 13-3 run to push the lead to a dozen, with six of those points coming off Schreacke triples. Tulane worked to cut it back to 7, but a 10-0 run pushed the lead back to double-digits. Six of those points came from Grace Slaughter while the other four came from Jayla Smith.
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The Tigers survived a late push from Tulane who cut it as close as four, holding on to start 2-0. This marks the first time that Mizzou has won its road opener for the first time since the 2022-23 season.
Perhaps the biggest difference in this game came from long distance, shooting 11-29 from beyond-the-arc compared to 5-24 for Tulane. This is a major improvement from three made triples in the exhibition against Maryville and five against Central Arkansas. Abbey Schreacke was the top contributor going 4-8 from three as the main driver on her way to 13 points in the win.
Once again Mizzou pushed the pace and got to the free throw line, shooting 18-21 compared to 6-13 from its counterparts.
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Slaughter had a bounceback performance with 27 points, six assists and five rebounds. Her shooting has room to improve after going 6-16 from the field, but found success going 3-6 on three-pointers and a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. She helped lock down the win with nine points in the final frame and a 6-6 on free throws in the quarter.
Missouri finished the game with five players with double-digit points to spread the scoring wealth around with Lisa Thompson, Jayla Smith and Shannon Dowell each adding 10 points.
In addition to the 10 points, Dowell added 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Her final layup in the fourth quarter put her at 1,000 points in her career.
Mizzou’s biggest struggle was to make shots in the paint and from midrange, finishing 13-32 on two-pointers while Tulane finished 24-46. Tulane won the rebounding battle 44-38 thanks to a 14-7 advantage on the offensive glass.
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Jordana Reisma struggled despite the winning, scoring two points on only three shot attempts before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.
After a slow start, Mizzou ended the first quarter on a 17-5 run to take a 22-15 lead. The main reason for the run was the long ball with three made 3-pointers compared to none for Tulane. The other difference was the free throw battle, with the Tigers going 7-7 from the line through 10 minutes and the Green Wave only 1-2. Grace Slaughter responded from her slow start a game ago with nine points in the opening frame thanks to four-made free throws.
That lead dissipated in the second quarter, as Tulane went on a 12-3 run to take the lead heading into the media timeout. Mizzou managed to take the lead heading into halftime 33-31 after holding the Green Wave to four points after the media break. While Mizzou only shot 33% from the field in the first half, they made five threes while Tulane made none. Slaughter was the only player for either team in double-digits after 20 minutes of play with 12 points.
Tulane made a late-game push, going on a 10-3 run with some big buckets as the Mizzou offense wavered. However, the Tigers came up with big stops when they needed as Slaughter hit the last four free throws to close out the win.
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Mizzou returns home for a showdown against Arkansas State at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Mizzou Arena.
