NASSAU, Bahamas – The University of Missouri women's basketball team ran away from Wake Forest with a blistering second-quarter run to secure a 69-47 victory Monday at the Baha Mar Convention Center. The win extends the Tigers’ undefeated start to 6-0 in the first contest of the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship.
The Tigers played stout defense early, forcing 14 consecutive missed field goals over the course of an 8:06 stretch in the first half. Wake Forest only mustered a 17% field-goal percentage in the first half as the Tigers jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead.
Mizzou’s defense continued to clamp down on the Demon Deacons until the final buzzer sounded. Wake Forest shot 28.8% from the field, the lowest the Tigers have allowed this season. Through six games, no opponent has cracked 40% from the field against the Tigers.
Senior forward Hayley Frank (Strafford, Mo.) and graduate guard Katlyn Gilbert(Indianapolis, Ind.) conducted the Tiger offense throughout. Frank led all scorers with 20 on the game, while Gilbert notched a season-high 11 points as the duo combined for nearly half of Mizzou’s scoring output.
Helped by Gilbert and the return of junior guard Mama Dembele (Manlleu, Spain), the Tigers played unselfishly and took care of the basketball with an 18:9 assist-to-turnover ratio. The pair of guards combined for nine assists as Mizzou tallied an assist on 64% of its buckets.
TURNING POINT
Mizzou’s offense came alive in the second quarter to lead the Tigers on a 22-2 run in the first half. Gilbert scored 11 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting in the quarter while Frank dropped seven to lead the charge where the offense converted 11 of its 14 field goal attempts during the period.
TOP TIGERS
- Frank racked up 20 points, the most by a Tiger this season, while notching a pair of assists.
- Gilbert recorded season highs in points (11) and assists (five) while recording two rebounds, one block and one steal.
- Junior center Jayla Kelly (Chesterfield, Mo.) fell one point shy of a double-double as she grabbed a career-high 10 boards and added nine in the scoring column.
- Mizzou remains perfect against Wake Forest, extending their all-time series lead to 3-0. Mizzou is now 8-13 against ACC opponents.
- The Tigers advanced to 6-0 to start the season, reaching the mark in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history, following last year’s squad starting the season 8-0.
- Mizzou has won three straight non-conference neutral site games, dating back to last season’s two victories in the Christmas City Basketball Tournament.
- The 22-point margin of victory is the largest against a power five opponent since a 31-point victory over Florida in the SEC Tournament on March 7, 2019.
- Gilbert’s 11 points are the most she has scored in the Black and Gold, and is the first time she’s reached double digits since March 4, 2020, when she played for Notre Dame and faced off against Pittsburgh.
- Wake Forest shot 1-15 (6.7%) from the field in the second quarter, marking the lowest field goal percentage the Tigers have allowed in a quarter this season and the lowest Mizzou has allowed since allowing Oral Roberts shot 6.3% from the field in the fourth quarter against the Tigers on Dec. 19, 2020.
- The Tigers held Wake Forest junior guard Jewel Spear, the reigning ACC scoring leader, to just two points. is just the third time in her career that she’s been limited to two points or less.
- The Demon Deacons seven-point second period marked the seventh time this season the Tiger defense held an opponent to single digits in a quarter.
- Mama Dembele returned to the court after being sidelined for two games with a nose injury. She contributed two points, three rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes off the bench.
- Mizzou went 11-of-14 from the field in the second quarter, good for a field goal percentage of 78.6. This is the highest in a single quarter since last season’s Ole Miss matchup on Feb. 3, when the Tigers shot 6-7 (85.7%) from the field in the third quarter.
- The last time Mizzou hit at least 78.6% of their field goals in a single quarter with double-digit attempts was Dec. 21, 2021 against Alabama A&M, when the Tigers went 9-for-11 (81.8%) from the field in the second quarter.
