COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball kicked off its season with a 52-46 win over Abilene Christian on Friday night at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers’ stout defense forced 22 turnovers and held Abilene Christian to 28.8-percent shooting from the field. Mizzou now advances to the next round of the Preseason WNIT. Opponent and location of the Tigers’ next contest will be determined at a later date.
Mizzou was led by sophomore forward Cierra Porter (Columbia, Mo.) who hauled in a career-high 12 rebounds while recording her second career double-double. Porter was efficient from the field as she racked up 10 points behind a 4-for-5 effort from the field.
Porter’s big night led four Tigers in double digits. Redshirt senior guard Lianna Doty (St. Louis, Mo.) had a career-high seven steals and chipped in 12 points. Sophomore guard Sophie Cunningham (Columbia, Mo.) posted a team-high 13 points while senior guard Sierra Michaelis (Mercer, Mo.) posted 11 points, scoring all of them in the fourth quarter.
Freshman Amber Smith (Shreveport, La.) made a significant impact in her first career start as she pulled in seven rebounds and added four points and a blocked shot.
After Abilene Christian jumped out to a quick lead to start the game, head coach Robin Pingeton’s squad bounced back and cut the deficit to one by the end of the first quarter. Porter and Doty both had five points in the period.
Mizzou grabbed its first lead of the game on a Cunningham layup with 5:28 left in the second quarter. Doty followed with a driving layup and a rhythm three-pointer on back-to-back possessions to cap a 10-0 Mizzou run that handed the Tigers a 25-18 advantage. Defensively, the Tigers stifled the Wildcat offense, allowing just five second-quarter points on 2-of-19 shooting. Mizzou went into halftime with a 25-21 lead.
After a tightly contested third quarter, Mizzou’s offense came out firing early in the fourth as the Tigers converted on their first four field goal attempts. The stretch was fueled by Michaelis, whose clutch trey with 7:08 remaining put her squad in front, 40-36. Less than two minutes later, Doty forced a turnover and went coast-to-coast for a bucket to extend Mizzou’s lead. The Tigers rattled off an 11-0 run that proved to be the difference down the stretch.
With less than two minutes left, Michaelis collected another steal in the Wildcats’ backcourt and converted a layup to push Mizzou ahead, 50-43. Mizzou sealed the win in the final minute to earn its first victory of the 2016-17 campaign and improve to 35-8 all-time in season-opening games.
— Mizzou Athletics —