No. 5 LSU takes out Missouri Tigers in SEC women’s basketball showdown at Mizzou Arena

The Missouri Tigers struggled to contain the Tigers from LSU on Wednesday in Columbia, falling 77-57 to their fifth-ranked visitors at Mizzou Arena.

LSU guard Alexis Morris led all scorers with 24 points and teammate Angel Reese added 20 as the purple Tigers remained unbeaten at 17-0 (4-0 in SEC play).

Lauren Hansen scored 22 and Mama Dembele added 11 for Missouri (14-4, 8-3), which lost its second straight game.

Missouri will be back in action Sunday at South Carolina. Before that, here’s what to know from the LSU game.

‘We started really slow’

Missouri’s offensive start left a lot to be desired. The Tigers got out to an ice-cold start, beginning the game just 1-for-9 shooting from the field.

MU was missing from all over, not just the outside. The Tigers finished the first quarter hitting just 15.4% from the field.

“We’ve got to figure out what’s going on in that first quarter,” coach Robin Pingeton said. “Last couple games we started really slow, and part of that is credit the defense and just the toughness of this league. But we continue to dig ourselves such big holes that it’s hard to battle through it.”

On the other side, LSU didn’t get off to a rousing start either. But the more southern Tigers regrouped with three-pointers from Flau’Jae Johnson and Alexis Morris.

Missouri was unable to stop Morris in the first half. The LSU guard scored 14 points through the first two quarters. Johnson also gave MU fits, scoring eight in the first half.

By the time the half ended, Missouri was already deep in a hole. LSU led 37-21, and MU’s leading scorers (Hansen and Sara-Rose Smith) had just five points each.

The Tigers’ shooting struggles also continued, with MU hitting just 32% in the first half. LSU shot 50%.

“I thought in the first half we didn’t have a lot of movement,” Pingeton said. “A little bit stagnant at times when we went small-ball. We really want to get some ball reversals.”

‘They really battled’

After the disappointing first half, Missouri returned after the break with some energy. The Tigers were making plays, forcing LSU into mistakes and capitalizing with made shots.

By the under-five timeout in the third quarter, MU had cut the LSU lead to six. One key moment in the preceding stretch was a Haley Troup steal that she took to the basket, earning an easy layup.

“I thought they really battled,” Pingeton said. “I love the grittiness I thought I saw, especially in that third quarter. At the end of the day, that’s what you want to see. You want to see your players battle and compete and I thought we did that.”

After the timeout, Jayla Kelly hit two free throws to cut the lead to four, but then LSU started playing offense again. Jasmine Carson hit a three-pointer and Reese made a layup plus a free throw to push the lead back to 10.

“We had open shots,” Pingeton said. “We had good looks. They hit their shots, we didn’t. Sometimes it’s just as simple as that.”

The return

Thursday’s game marked the return of a familiar face to Mizzou Arena. LaDazhia Williams, who spent her previous two seasons with MU, was back in the building with LSU, her new team.

Williams started at forward for LSU and made an impact. She scored the game’s first points on a layup following an offensive rebound and played more than 22 minutes. She finished with six points, five rebounds and a blocked shot.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.