COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri Women’s Basketball travels to South Carolina to take on the No. 1 ranked Gamecocks at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The contest will be broadcast on SECN.
Missouri is coming off a loss to Tennessee on Sunday.
Mama Dembele led Missouri with 18 points, three assists and four steals against the Lady Vols.
Dembele ranks fourth on Mizzou’s all-time leaderboard for assists and became the fourth Tiger in program history to record 400 career assists on Sunday.
The point guard ranks first in the SEC with 6.8 assists per game (4th nationally) and second in the conference with 3.1 steals (11th nationally)
Senior Hayley Frank leads Missouri this season at 17.5 points per game and ranks fourth on Mizzou’s all-time career scoring leaderboard. Frank stands 177 points behind Renee Kelly (1983-87) for third.
Freshman Grace Slaughter scored 14 points against Tennessee and ranks third in the SEC among first-year players with 11.4 points per game.
Mizzou generates much of its offense from beyond the arc, ranks second in the SEC (22nd nationally) in 3-point percentage (36.6%) and 21st in the country (2nd in SEC) with 8.5 makes per contest.
Missouri has the youngest starting lineup in the SEC by academic year (two freshmen, a sophomore and two seniors).
Entering Thursday, Missouri, UConn, Tennessee and Mississippi are the only programs to beat the Gamecocks three times since 2016-17.
South Carolina enters Thursday at 21-0 following a victory over Ole Miss on Sunday.
In 16 years at the helm of the program Dawn Staley has guided the Gamecocks to five Final Fours and two National Championships.
South Carolina is the only team ranked in the nation’s top 10 in both scoring offense (3rd, 89.1 ppg) and defense (11th, 54.3 ppg).
On an individual level, the Gamecocks are led by senior center Kamilla Cardoso and senior guard Te-Hina Paopao who average 13.8 and 11.8 points per game, respectively.
The Gamecocks hold a 10-4 series advantage following a victory at Mizzou Arena earlier this season on Jan. 11.
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