After narrowly missing a free throw attempt on the wing, Hayley Frank recovered the ball on a pass from Jayla Kelly on a second chance. With an Alabama defender on his back, Frank used his powerful frame to back into his opponent and create space for a fade shot down the baseline that earned his team eight points. with six minutes left in the first half.
Over the next 20 minutes, the Strafford, Mo. senior didn’t attempt a single shot as the Crimson Tide erupted for 49 second-half points on their way to a 76-69 victory.
Although Frank managed to rack up 26 points, including 11 from the free throw line, she only attempted four shots in the second half and couldn’t carry the Tigers past an offensive second half. dominant in Alabama alone.
“She just fights,” head coach Robin Pingeton said. “She gets so much attention. She plays, sometimes double teams, sometimes three people on her, and she continues to play at a very high level for us.
The Crimson Tide scored 20 points on Missouri’s 16 turnovers. The Alabama defense also did a masterful job of containing the Tigers’ leading scorer in the second half, limiting her appearance to deep three-point shots, fade jump shots and contested layups.
“You look at our turnovers, and those always come back to bite you,” Pingeton pointed out. “These are controllable rotations, and we’re just not doing a great job of that.”
While Bama downplayed Frank’s impact, the same couldn’t be said for Alabama guard Brittany Davis, whose 33 points led all scorers in the win. The Tide’s leading scorer scored 23 of those points in the second half on 8-11 shooting while making all five of her free throw attempts.
“We tried to activate all of these rubbing actions, dribbling transfers, to keep her in front and play her above us,” Pingeton said. “They’re doing a good job putting her in isolation positions and obviously we didn’t get an answer for her tonight.”
Although Missouri held Davis at bay in the first half, their perimeter defense and rebounding left something to be desired. These weaknesses compounded in the second half, breathing new life into Davis and allowing the Crimson Tide to take the lead early in the third quarter and launch their attack.
The Crimson Tide’s efforts inside paid huge dividends, especially down the stretch as they wore down the Tiger defense and closed out the game. Alabama overcame a poor performance from beyond the arc, shooting just 6-22 for the game. But the Tide went 5 of 12 from deep while shooting 15-27 overall. The Crimson Tide hammered the ball inside, scoring 34 points in the paint and finishing 18-18 from the charity strip.
“You can’t give up close to 50 points in one half and expect to win,” Pingeton acknowledged.
“We really have to accept what the coaches tell us”, Tiger Guard Haley Troop said. “Our backs are against the wall, and we have to have a chip on our shoulders. We need to get into games and be grittier and more physical. I felt like we didn’t do that tonight.
Missouri also suffered poor performances from key starters Mama Dembele, Lauren Hansen And Jayla Kellywho combined for 10 points on 1-15 shooting while adding four assists and seven rebounds.
In the end, Pingeton let Hansen and Kelly out of the lineup in exchange for Troup and Ashton Juddwho scored the second (13) and third (12) points respectively for Missouri.
The loss puts the Tigers further and further away from the NCAA Tournament as time is running out for them to prove themselves. This loss in particular, their seventh in their last eight games, is profound because it leaves them without a key victory over a high-quality team from Alabama.
“If we want to go to the NCAA Tournament, we have to win, and we’ll see how we respond to that,” Pingeton said. “I love being in the trenches with them. We will find out.
The Tigers have a week off before heading to Fayetteville for a game against Arkansas on Sunday at 2 p.m. with the goal of returning to the NCAA Tournament.
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