The Tigers were stifled by the Bulldogs on Super Bowl Sunday.
Super Bowl Sunday has never been a fun day for the state of Georgia. The Atlanta Falcons have only made the big game twice in their 60-year history, losing both times. The second time featured a blown lead so agonizing that simply mentioning “28-3” could be punishable by death stares from Falcons fans.
This time around, however, the Peach State picked up a victory on Super Bowl Sunday, even though it wasn’t on the gridiron. Georgia women’s basketball tallied a dominant 85-66 road win over Mizzou, ending MU’s winning streak at three games.
“Georgia’s a really good team,” head coach Kellie Harper said after the game. “To be quite honest with you, I don’t know why they’re not ranked right now.”
After scoring over 80 points in three straight games, Mizzou’s offense was dragged much closer to Earth on Sunday. Grace Slaughter endured the heaviest struggles, missing 10 of her first 11 field goal attempts and finishing just 4-of-15 from the field (26.7%), scoring just 10 points. That tied for the third-lowest single-game shooting percentage of her career on at least 10 shot attempts.
“They were just really aggressive defensively, being physical around the rim,” Slaughter said.
The following sequence encapsulated her day at the office: With 3.3 seconds left in the third quarter, Slaughter drew a charge. On the ensuing baseline inbounds pass, she dribbled the ball off her foot, and it bounced right to Savannah Anderson. She whipped her body 180 degrees and sank a buzzer-beating jumpshot from the right elbow to put UGA up 12.
“That was a momentum play,” Harper said. “I thought they had several momentum plays today.”
Georgia didn’t go on the kind of scoring blitz that New England did nine years ago, but the Bulldogs were powered by a 20-7 run to end the first half after the game was tied at 21 with 8:20 left in the second quarter. Mizzou couldn’t get itself out of that hole from then on, as both teams traded baskets for most of the second half. Georgia’s lead never dipped below double-digits.
Mizzou was also without starting big Jordana Reisma, who missed her second straight game with what Harper described as a “lower leg injury”. Combined with Hannah Linthacum remaining on the mend, the Tigers lacked the proper size to compete with the Dawgs down low. Georgia won the rebound battle 44-31, and Mizzou only grabbed five offensive rebounds the entire game.
“We don’t have size, and we don’t have depth, and we’re missing one of our starting post players,” an exasperated Harper said.
“For our kids to go out and just battle, I’m proud of that. I am. Now, can we do better? Yes, we can do better. We’re going to always push them to be better. Are we satisfied with a ‘play hard, yay!’? No, we’re not. We want to be better than that. But man, we have faced some tough challenges this year, and they just keep right on coming back.”
Shannon Dowell led MU in scoring with 16 points. Lisa Thompson was the only other Tiger in double-digits besides Dowell and Slaughter, scoring a season-high 14 points, all of which came in the second half.
For UGA, Rylie Theuerkauf scored a season-high 22 points, while leading scorer Dani Carnegie and starting big Mia Woolfolk had 16 points apiece. Her, Trinity Turner and Miyah Verse combined for 25 rebounds.
“There’s not much we can do there. We don’t have anybody right now that can insert and do those things. We have nobody else that could come in and get that size. Our small team got smaller when she got hurt, but we just have to be creative defensively.”
So far, that creativity hasn’t worked very well against bigger teams.
Sunday was a missed opportunity for a quality win, which Mizzou has in low quantity at the moment. The Tigers only have one win over a team that’s projected to make the NCAA Tournament (Mississippi State). Even so, the Bulldogs are hanging around the bubble and are far from a guarantee to go dancing.
Luckily for Kellie Harper’s crew, they won’t have to wait long for another shot at a high-quality opponent, as the Tigers will visit Harper’s previous employer (No. 19 Tennessee) for their next game. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. It’ll be Harper’s first game against the Volunteers since she took the head coaching position at Mizzou. Harper was fired on April 1, 2024, after five seasons in Knoxville.
Like MU, Tennessee is also looking to rebound from a blowout defeat, as the Volunteers lost by 43 points to No. 3 South Carolina on Sunday.
Category: General Sports
