COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri women’s basketball took down SMU 68-61 in the SEC/ACC Challenge Thursday night at Mizzou Arena.
Sophomore guard Grace Slaughter notched her second career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Slaughter’s first double-double came in her collegiate debut.
Sophomore guard Abby Schraeke scored 16 points behind four 3-pointers. Schreacke provided 11 of her total in the fourth quarter.
Junior guard Ashton Judd recorded 14 points and five rebounds in the contest, including nine points in the third quarter.
Senior guard Nyah Wilson tallied 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Tigers began the game going back and forth with the Mustangs, but midway through the first quarter redshirt sophomore guard Averi Kronke connected on a turnaround jumper in the paint to spark a 7-0 run and push the Missouri lead to 14-6.
All Missouri starters were in the scoring column just over five minutes into the contest.
A pair of free throws by Hannah Linthacum would send the Tigers into the second quarter up 21-13.
SMU cut the lead to three early in the second quarter, but a quick 6-2 offensive spurt by the Tigers pushed the advantage back to seven near the midway mark of the frame.
The Mustangs got within two points down the stretch, but a late second-chance layup by Slaughter sent Missouri into the break with a 33-29 lead. The sophomore led the team in points (11), rebounds (5) and assists (2) in the first half.
Missouri started the second half strong, going on an early 7-2 run that was capped off with an Ashton Judd 3-pointer to push the lead to 40-31.
Judd stayed hot throughout the quarter, hitting another triple and drawing a 3-point play in the paint. Judd and Slaughter combined for 15 of Missouri’s 19 points in the third quarter and sent the Tigers into the final frame with an eight-point lead.
The Mustangs sliced into the advantage quickly in the fourth quarter as they tied the game with just under seven minutes left.
Abby Schreacke seized control for the Tigers as the sophomore scored eight straight points for the Tigers with back-to-back 3-pointers and gave Missouri a five-point lead with just over five minutes remaining.
From there, Missouri relied on its defense and limited SMU to just three points in the final half of the frame.
With 38 seconds left, Schreake hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter to give the Tigers a 66-59 lead and secure the victory.
The Tigers outrebounded the Mustangs 40-37 and improved to 8-0 this season when they grab more boards than their opponent.
Missouri scored 12 points off of turnovers while holding SMU to two.
With the win, the SEC won the cross-conference challenge, 10-6.
UP NEXT
Missouri will be back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Northern Illinois at Mizzou Arena. The contest will stream live on SECN+.
