COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri's 21-0 lead to open the game proved to be too large of a deficit for North Dakota to overcome as the Tigers came away with a 69-52 victory in the first meeting between the two programs. In front of Mizzou Arena crowd of 1,179 fans, the home team used four three-pointers, including two from leading scorer Christine Flores, to build the early advantage. Flores finished 7-for-12 from the field, 4-for-5 at three-point range, and 11-for-11 at the foul line to lead all players with 29 points.
"We were playing scared to start off the game and were having trouble running the right plays," head coach Gene Roebuck said. "After that initial deficit, we collected ourselves, and then out-scored Missouri the rest of the way. Once we woke up and decided that having 'Missouri' written across their jerseys didn't make them and different than us, we stepped it up and started to out-work them. We played extremely hard and really took the ball to them."
True freshman guard Cy'erra Mills (Maple Grove, Minn.) dropped in North Dakota's first basket of the game (13:29), but Missouri's Morgan Eye was right there to follow with her third three-pointer of the afternoon. Senior guard Charnise Mothershed (Phoenix, Ariz.) followed with a pair of free throws, but just as she had followed Mills before, Eye stepped in with yet another three-pointer.
The Tigers finished the game 8-for-20 (40 percent) from beyond the arc while UND was 1-for-11 (9.1 percent).
Trailing 8-31 with nine minutes remaining in the first half, UND staged a 17-10 run that would help bring it to within 15 points as the teams went into their locker-rooms. Redshirt freshman center Emily Evers (Grand Forks, N.D.) kicked things off with a pull-up jumper at 8:46 off of a pass from junior guard Carly Rothfusz (Eden Prairie, Minn.). Eye put in the response for Missouri, but then sophomore forward Katie Houdek (Grafton, N.D.) dropped in her two of the game.
Houdek's basket sparked a 7-0 clip for the North Dakota as sophomore center Allyssa Wall (North Sioux City, S.D.) sank in four points from the paint and one at the charity stripe. The Tigers notched four points from the foul line inside the five-minute mark, but they were soon canceled by a basket from Mothershed and a pull-up jumper from redshirt freshman Siri Burck (Fargo, N.D.). Burck's basket, the first of her collegiate career, put the score at 37-21 with 3:27 left on the clock.
With four points from each side to end the half, North Dakota went into the locker-room trialing Missouri 25-40.
North Dakota had a different look to start off the second half as sophomore forward Madi Buck (Bismarck, N.D.) was joined by Charnise Mothershed, Mills, Evers, and true freshman guard Brianna Williams (Minneapolis, Minn.).
The teams traded baskets to open the new frame until four straight points from Buck pulled UND to within 14 points (31-45; 16:17). Another point trade was ended as Missouri tacked on five consecutive points from the free throw line to move out to a 56-37 advantage. North Dakota responded with a 7-0 clip of its own as senior guard Charnay Mothershed (Phoenix, Ariz.) drilled UND's lone three-pointer of the game and Wall hit from the field and at the free throw line.
With UND now trailing by 12 points with just under seven minutes remaining, Flores went on an 11-1 run of her own to give the Tigers a 22-point lead (67-45) - their largest lead of the game - with 4:20 remaining in the game. Flores hit from everywhere on the court as she scored six times from the free throw line, once from the paint, and once from three-point range.
North Dakota out-scored Missouri 7-2 in the final minutes, but with the early lead too much to overcome, UND fell in its third straight non-conference contest.
With nine points apiece, Buck and Wall led a UND squad that for the second game in a row couldn't break the double-digit barrier. Buck shot 2-for-8 from the field and went 5-for-7 from the foul line. For the eighth game in a row, she led the team in the boards, bringing down eight defensive rebounds. Wall finished 3-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 at the free throw line, and added four rebounds.
UND finished 18-for-62 (29 percent) from the field and 15-for-21 (71.4 percent) at the foul line.
Filling out the trio of high scorers for Missouri was BreAnna Brock (17) and Eye (16). The Tigers shot 35.3 percent (18-for-51) from the field and 86.2 percent (25-for-29) at the free throw line.
North Dakota won the rebounding battle 41-40 and turned its 15 second chances into 12 points. Missouri converted UND's 21 turnovers into 19 points and registered eight blocked shots. North Dakota's bench out-scored the Missouri bench 28-21.
UND will have a week to prepare for the Northern Iowa game on Saturday, Dec. 17. This will mark the first visit to Grand Forks for the Panthers. Tipoff at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.
