Mizzou turned the ball over 20 times in the loss
Mizzou women’s basketball (11-6, 0-2 SEC) suffered its second straight loss to open conference play after a 68-49 road loss against No. 19 Alabama (15-1, 2-0 SEC).
Mizzou caught a break as Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker was unable to play after suffering a leg injury in her last game. Barker is one of the most well-rounded players on the team, second in scoring after finishing last season as a member of the First Team All-SEC team.
Alabama’s offensive struggled with only six points at the first media timeout. An early four points from Angie Ngalakulondi put the Tigers ahead 9-6 just over five minutes into the game.
After that short burst, it was all Alabama for the rest of the half. The Tide finished the first half on a 26-11 run to open a double-digit lead. Mizzou’s offensive struggles came from their inability to hold onto the ball, finishing the half with 15 turnovers. Those turnovers turned directly into 13 Alabama points.
“We had way too many empty possessions we had in that first half,” Head coach Robin Pingeton said. “And winning is hard in the SEC. Winning on the road is really, really hard. Ball security is a huge point of emphasis…you don’t give yourself a chance in those situations.”
The Tigers offense was in disarray, with no player taking the lead and failing to create movement. While six different Mizzou players scored in the first half, no one finished with more than four points.
Alabama did a better job finding the free throw line. At the end of the first half, the Tide outshot the Tigers 13-2 in attempts from the stripe. Those attempts turned directly into points, with Alabama finishing the half 12-13 on FTs.
It was more of the same in the second half, outscoring the Tigers 36-29 including a dominant third quarter. Mizzou finally got the offense going in the fourth by scoring 18 points and bringing the game back within 20.
Abbey Schreacke was the catalyst for the offensive explosion with eight points with a pair of triples. No Tiger cracked double-digits, as Ngalakulondi and Nyah Wilson led the team in scoring with nine points each.
The feed → the finish pic.twitter.com/fedVxopklK
— Mizzou Basketball (@MizzouWBB) January 5, 2025
As a whole Mizzou struggled to shoot, finishing at 34% from the field and 25% from three. Ashton Judd continues to struggle in SEC play with only three points on 1-9 shooting.
The Tigers cleaned up the turnover issues with only five in the second half, but finished with 20 total. Alabama led the offensive rebounds by a narrow margin at 15-11. But the Tide did more with those chances, winning the second-chance points battle 22-2.
“The biggest takeaways from this game are empty possessions with turnovers and then the second chance points that we allowed throughout the course of the game,” Pingeton said, “We knew rebounding was going to be a big part of this.”
Zay Green led the offensive charge for Alabama with 23 points on 8-19 shooting with a pair of triples. She was one of three players for the home team who finished in double digits.
This marked the second consecutive season where the Tigers started SEC play at 0-2. Last season Mizzou snapped the losing streak in its fourth game with a road win against Vandy.
This season they will have a similar opportunity against a struggling Georgia team (8-8, 0-2 SEC) on the road on Thursday, Jan. 9 at 5 p.m.