GREENVILLE, S.C. – The University of Missouri women’s basketball team was defeated by Arkansas 85-74 in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Senior guard Lauren Hansen (Long Island, NY) led the Tigers (17-13, 6-10 SEC) with 19 points, four rebounds and four steals. Hansen has topped Missouri in the scoring column on 10 occasions this season.
Senior forward Hayley Frank (Strafford, Mo.) contributed 14 points, four rebounds and dished a pair of assists. With the scoring total, Frank passed Erika Martin (1992-96) to move into ninth place on the program’s all-time scoring leaderboard.
Trailing by seven midway through the opening quarter, graduate guard Katlyn Gilbert (Indianapolis, Ind.) stared down her defender and sunk a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. The shot sparked a 12-4 run that gave Missouri a 21-20 advantage at the end of the first frame.
Both teams traded baskets to begin the second period. Taking the lead, Arkansas (22-11, 7-9) pushed the scoring separation to six with just over seven minutes remaining before the break. A 3-pointer jumper by Frank ignited a responding charge for Missouri and additional triples by graduate guard Haley Troup (Gadsden, Ala.) and freshman guard Ashton Judd (West Plains, Mo.) down the stretch saw the Tigers trailing by just one at the half.
With the game knotted midway through the third, Missouri grasped momentum with an 11-0 offensive spurt that spanned nearly four minutes. A triple by Frank once again served as the catalyst as the senior also capped the run with a pair of conversions at the charity stripe.
Before the buzzer sounded on the frame, Razorback’s redshirt-senior Chrissy Carr connected on a shot from beyond the arc to cut the Tigers’ lead to eight at 64-56. Carr led Arkansas with 34 points in the game.
Missouri fought to stave off an Arkansas response in the fourth, but the Razorbacks were able to tie the contest with just over five minutes remaining and held onto an advantage for the remainder of the game.
