WOMEN'S HOOPS: Tigers take down Vanderbilt, 81-70

Anne Rogers · Jan 11, 2018

No. 12 Missouri (15-2, 3-1 SEC) made quick work of Vanderbilt (4-14, 0-4) tonight, leaving Nashville with a 81-70 win and only trailing by three in the first few minutes.

Here are three takeaways from tonight’s matchup:

Shooters all around. Sophie Cunningham led Sunday’s win over No. 9 South Carolina with 27 points. Tonight, she had five. Clearly, that wasn’t a problem. Sophomores Amber Smith and Jordan Chavis — who came off the bench — took over the scoring roles for the Tigers tonight, both finishing with 18. That’s a career-high for Chavis. The two had a combined eight three-pointers. The fact that Missouri’s leading scorer can go a game scoring five points and the Tigers can run the score up as much as they did shows the versatility of this team.
Frericks finds her way. After a disappointing last couple of games, redshirt senior Jordan Frericks finally showed her ability again. The forward had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists off an effective third quarter. She looked aggressive in the paint, scoring a bucket off of a pair of offensive rebounds in double coverage. Not only does it help her confidence, but it helped the Tigers to the win.
Three-point defense. Missouri had control over this game from the start, but it was in large part thanks to their offense. The Tigers out-scored the ‘Dores 24-10 in the third quarter and led by as much as 25 at one point in the game. But Vanderbilt had its runs, especially in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Tigers 23-9. Cierra Walker led Vanderbilt with 17 points, and Erin Whalen added 15 of her own. The two had seven out of Vanderbilt’s nine three-pointers. Missouri has to defend well all over the floor, not just in the paint. If not for the Tigers talented offense, this game would have been a lot closer than it was.

Missouri has a week-long break now before heading to Mississippi. The Tigers will face the Rebels next Thursday at 8 p.m.

KC_Salts · Jan 11, 2018