Poor 3rd quarter dooms Mizzou WBB upset attempt over No. 5 Texas

The win looked ripe for the taking…until it wasn’t. Longhorns win 70-61

For the first 16 minutes, Mizzou (12-11, 1-7 SEC) had No. 5 Texas (21-2, 7-1 SEC) on its heels. The visiting team racked up a 32-21 lead off the backs of Grace Slaughter and Laniah Randle. After that the game belonged to Texas, as they eked out a closer than expected win against Mizzou 70-61.

Mizzou did more than stay alive early, leading during the entire first half. A late 8-1 run in the first quarter helped the Tigers build a 20-13 lead after the first 10 minutes of action.

Texas continued to struggle offensively early, held to 21 points at the media timeout in the second quarter. The Tigers came out with a strong game plan against star Madison Booker, holding her to four points in the half. Mizzou kept Texas away from the long ball as the Longhorns only made one triple in the half. The Tigers were physical, forcing nine first half turnovers which they turned into seven points. This physical play occasionally backfired, as Texas shot 10 FTs compared to only 3 for the Tigers.

Slaughter and Randle combined for 21 points to keep their foes at an arm’s length away during the first 20 minutes. Texas fought back by cutting the deficit down to a pair. But the Tigers held steady at the half, 35-33.

The Longhorns continued their momentum into the third quarter, outscoring Mizzou 19-10. The home team held a 7-point lead heading into the final frame. The Mizzou offense stalled, finishing 4-14 from the field and 1-5 from deep. Booker finally came alive with 9 points in the quarter on 4-6 shooting.

The visitors matched the favorites bucket-for-bucket down the stretch, but it proved to be not enough. Texas won the war 70-61.

Turnovers played a big part in this one as both teams combined for 35 in the game. Texas won the offensive rebound battle 11-8 and turned that into an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points. As a whole Mizzou was outrebounded 35-24. Offensively the Tigers only made four threes, limited to 12 attempts.

Offensively Laniah Randle led Mizzou with a new season-high 22 points on an aggressive 10-18 shooting. Slaughter finished the day with 16 while Ashton Judd wrapped up the double-digit scorers with 13 on the board.

While Mizzou was unable to pull off the upset, the Tigers never quit. This sort of fight will be important in one of the most difficult schedule stretches I’ve ever seen. Next up on murderer’s row is a home game against No.18 Tennessee (15-5, 3-5 SEC) on Sunday, Feb. 2 on SEC Network+.