Passing lanes turn hazardous as Tigers fall to struggling Auburn

Missouri and Auburn have remarkably similar women’s basketball teams. In addition to sharing a Tiger mascot, they have both experienced shaky seasons under first-year head coaches.

Kellie Harper and Mizzou entered the contest against Auburn with a 4-8 Southeastern Conference record, while Larry Vickers and Auburn had just two SEC wins. Each team was coming off a loss, with Mizzou falling 98-53 to Tennessee last Thursday and Auburn 81-63 to Texas A&M on Sunday. Each was eager for a win.

Only one got its way Thursday. Auburn returned to the win column, while Missouri fell 71-58 in Columbia.

“I’m disappointed in how we played,” Harper said. “We played a little timidly at times.”

When Missouri and Auburn took the court, they were even dressed alike. Both squads’ uniforms featured the color pink for the MU Health Care Pink Out, but what distinguished the teams was their style.

Just 38 seconds into the game, junior guard Shannon Dowell recorded the Tigers’ first turnover of the game, setting the tone for some early Mizzou (16-12, 4-9 SEC) struggles. Missouri lost the ball 30 times throughout the contest. Twelve turnovers occurred in the first quarter alone, helping Auburn jump out to an 18-8 lead.

“They played very aggressively against us,” Abbey Schreacke said. “Jumping the passing lanes caused us to turn the ball over more than we wanted to.”

Missouri’s inability to maintain possession doomed it. Even the return of senior forward Jordana Reisma, who missed time due to an injury, wasn’t enough to push Mizzou past Auburn.

Reisma scored 10 points and had seven rebounds for a solid individual performance. On offense, Missouri actually played well, shooting 57.1% from the field. Auburn (14-13, 3-10), on the other hand, shot 37.7% from the field. The turnovers were the difference, as Missouri only forced 10 from Auburn.

More from this section

Flickers of what could be: Mizzou continues on the war path against No. 20 Arkansas

Passing lanes turn hazardous as Tigers fall to struggling Auburn

As a result of constantly losing the ball, Mizzou only took 35 shots to Auburn’s 69. Auburn also scored 29 points off of Missouri’s turnovers.

“We tried to make some adjustments that should have helped us, but we just didn’t execute them,” Harper said. “We had some bad decisions, bad passes, panicked passes. It was every kind of turnover you could possibly have.”

Mizzou’s turnover troubles were especially bad in the first half, with the team totaling 19.

Harper also emphasized that rebounding was an issue, particularly offensive rebounds— Auburn grabbed 14 to Mizzou’s two. Missouri struggles with that part of its game because of its small size, but Harper believes it is something that can be improved moving forward.

“There’s no magic pill,” Harper said. “We’re not going to grow, we’re not going to become more explosive athletes overnight, so we have to be the more disciplined team when we’re trying to box out.”

Junior guard Grace Slaughter led Mizzou with 19 points, making seven of nine from the field. For Auburn, Kaitlyn Duhon also scored 19.

The bad outweighed the good for Missouri, as four players turned the ball over at least four times. Dowell had nine turnovers, Slaughter followed with five and Chloe Sotell and Saniah Tyler logged four each.

Missouri retakes the court against No. 7 LSU at 3 p.m. Sunday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.