The Auburn Tigers Women’s Basketball team (8-4) traveled to Columbia, Missouri on Thursday night where they lost to the Tigers (12-2) 72-63.
Missouri came into the game after beating the top ranked team in the country last Thursday night, defeating No. 1 South Carolina by two points at home.
Auburn continued its road trip to Missouri after dropping a tough game at Tuscaloosa to Alabama on Sunday afternoon by just three points.
The visiting Tigers forced many turnovers early, forcing the home Tigers into six of them in the first quarter. Auburn was able to score nine points off those turnovers during the first 10 minutes and hold a 17-13 lead after the first quarter.
After a slow start for both squads in the second quarter, Missouri used a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the ballgame at 20-19 while Auburn did not score a point for over three minutes of game time. But Auburn responded, and continued its tough defensive pressure and forcing turnovers.
The Tigers forced eight turnovers against the home team, and scored 14 points off of them to give them a 32-28 lead over Missouri heading into the half. Auburn's Sania Wells led the team in scoring with 11, while LaDazhia Williams had 12 for Missouri.
The third quarter began very similarly to the first two, with both teams starting out slow with just four combined points at the first media timeout. But Missouri found its groove offensively, going onto a 12-2 run over the last six minutes of the quarter. After once leading, the Auburn Tigers were now down 45-42 heading into the final quarter.
The Auburn Tigers showed fight coming into the fourth quarter, responding to the big Missouri run with a big run of their own. Auburn took a five point lead with 6:37 to go thanks to a 9-0 run to start the quarter, causing Missouri to call a timeout.
But Auburn bounced back, and the game continued its back and forth trend. Wells fouled Aijha Blackwell with 38 seconds to go, and she was heading to the line for two free throws while her team was up 58-57.
Blackwell missed the first, but drained the second to give Missouri a 59-57 lead.
The ball was put into the hands of the leader for the Auburn Tigers all night long, and Wells knocked down a jumper in the lane with 19 seconds to go to tie the game at 59 and send it to overtime.
The extra five minutes would be too much to handle for Auburn, as Missouri used a late 8-0 run to pull away and win 72-63.
Auburn was led in scoring by Wells with 20 points on the night, while Williams led Missouri with 25 points.
For Missouri, this is their second straight SEC win and fifth win in a row. The Tigers will travel to Arkansas for a showdown with the Razorbacks on Sunday, Jan. 9.
For Auburn, this is the second straight SEC loss on the road. The Tigers return home on Sunday, Jan. 9 for a big matchup against No. 13 LSU.
For more Auburn Women’s Basketball coverage, continue on WEGLFM.com or AuburnTigers.com.
