Missouri Women's Basketball Drops Third Straight Game in Loss to Arkansas

Despite a competitive first three quarters, the Tigers allowed Arkansas to pull away in the fourth quarter in a 67-58 loss.

Megan Dorr | Jan 28, 2024

Missouri Women's Basketball Drops Third Straight Game in Loss to Arkansas /

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The Missouri Tigers fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks for the eleventh straight time in Sunday’s 67-58 loss. The Tigers have now lost three straight games, dropping them to 11-10 overall and 2-6 in the SEC. Despite the Chiefs playing at the same time, there was a very healthy crowd on hand in Mizzou Arena, including men’s head basketball coach Dennis Gates.

Right away, it was a shoot-around from behind the arc from the SEC’s top two three point shooting teams. The Tigers and Razorbacks traded makes from behind the key for much of the first half. At the end of the first quarter, Missouri was shooting 60 percent from three and Arkansas shooting 50 percent.

Many of the Arkansas makes came from sophomore guard Saylor Poffenbarger, who finished with 24 points, all coming from threes. The UConn transfer went 8-11 from behind the arc, many of them coming from way deep. The Tigers could not find any solution to shut down Poffenbarger. Poffenbarger’s mom, Amy, actually played basketball at Missouri.

“Her mom played here. I think today had a lot to do with her mom,” said Arkansas head coach Mike Neighbors.

The first three quarters of the game were very closely contested. Both teams were shooting similar percentages, had very similar turnovers, and both were grabbing rebounds on both ends of the floor.

Going into the fourth quarter, Missouri only trailed by four. Like so many of their other games, however, the Tigers allowed their opponent to go on a run to put the game away. Arkansas continued to make their threes in the fourth quarter while Missouri went cold from any spot on the court.

The Tigers lacked a “go-to” player they could turn to down the final stretch when they desperately needed a bucket. Ashton Judd was the Tigers leading scorer, finishing with 22 points and six rebounds, but even Judd could not seem to hit anything over the final minutes. However, it was a good showing for Judd, who had been struggling in previous games.

“She's a young lady that maybe didn't feel like she had been playing at the level she was capable of and just kind of went through a rough stretch there,” said Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton. “And so I would just credit her on just mentally staying the course and continuing to fight and battle through a little bit of a stretch where she wasn't shooting the ball particularly well.”

Arkansas expertly made adjustments on defense to force Missouri to stray away from their gameplan.

“We want to make them guard multiple options and I felt like with every screen action, you know, we got a little bit closer together and didn't maintain that spacing.” said Pingeton.

Both teams kept a relatively short bench. Missouri, who often utilizes a deep bench, only had Feit and Schreake getting significant time off the bench. Arkansas’s lack of depth is due to their injury struggles they have faced throughout the season.

Missouri will have the week off to rest and reset before heading to Knoxville, Tennessee to take on the Lady Volunteers on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.

Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Robin Pingeton - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Hannah Linthacum - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Mama Dembele - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Ashton Judd - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Hayley Frank - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Grace Slaughter - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Golden Girls - Missouri vs Arkansas - Jan. 28, 2024 :: Amber Winkler / MizzouCentral

Published Jan 28, 2024

MEGAN DORR

Megan Dorr is a sophomore at the University of Missouri from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is studying journalism with an emphasis in reporting and writing. She's been with MizzouCentral since 2023. In addition to having a regular podcast, she cover's women's basketball.