COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou (9-0) defeated Loyola Marymount (3-6) 80-48 on Monday evening at Mizzou Arena as the Tigers tied the program record for the best start in school history at 9-0. The only other Mizzou team to begin 9-0 was the 1982-83 squad which finished the season 25-6 and ranked 14th nationally.
“I’m happy for our girls, I thought we really competed hard for 40 minutes,” head coach Robin Pingeton said. “I thought we did a tremendous job out of the gates, just unselfish play, especially from that first group that was on the court. For them to take the court in the beginning of that second half and maintain and build on that intensity an energy, I thought was outstanding.
“I really appreciate all the fans, we had a great turnout again for our team and I can’t acknowledge them enough. They’ve just been an unbelievable sixth man for us this season.”
Mizzou scored the first 21 points of the game with the first 10 coming from sisters Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo) and Lindsey Cunningham (Columbia, Mo). Sophie scored the first seven points before her older sister knocked down a triple to make it 10-0. LMU didn’t get on the board until the 3:07 mark of the first quarter.
Sophie Cunningham led all scorers with 23 points, going 9-11 from the field and a perfect 3-3 beyond the arc. She also had five rebounds, tied a career-high with three assists and notched two assists.
Throughout the game, 11 Tigers entered the scoring column while 13 players again saw significant minutes. It was the fourth time this season that the team has had 11 players record points.
Mizzou dominated in the hustle stats, registering eight blocks and 13 steals. Those defensive stands led to a lopsided lead in points in the paint (40-12) and fast-break points (18-4). It marked the fifth time the Tigers have recorded 12 or more steals in a game this season after doing so only twice all of last year.
LMU closed the gap to as few as 10 points early in the second quarter, but a 9-0 Mizzou run, sparked by baskets from four different players, reopened Mizzou’s large lead at 32-13. The Tigers led 43-20 lead at the half, holding LMU without a point over the final 4:45 of the second quarter, closing on a 7-0 run.
Mizzou had seven different players score in the first half, led by 17 from Sophie Cunningham.
The second half was more of the same from Mizzou, with the defense holding LMU to 30.3 percent shooting (10-33). The Tigers shot 42.4 in the second half and 50.8 percent for the game. That excellent shooting performance was the second best so far this season; their high came against Wichita State Nov. 18 (51.6 percent). It was the third time this season that Mizzou has shot over 50 percent.
Mizzou heads to Boulder, Colorado, Saturday to face Colorado at 2:30 p.m.
— Mizzou Athletics —