Mizzou women’s basketball defeats Auburn in overtime as Aijha Blackwell returns

Despite only practicing once in the six days leading up to the matchup, Missouri women’s basketball pulled out a 72-63 overtime victory over Auburn (8-5) at Mizzou Arena on Thursday night.

With the win, Mizzou is now 13-2 on the season and undefeated in SEC play at 2-0.

“They found a way to get it done,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “It wasn’t pretty, but showed some grittiness and toughness and leaned in. ... At this point in the season, being out of practice, that’s what you got to do — you gotta find a way. And they certainly did tonight.”

Star guard Aijha Blackwell, who was not a part of Missouri’s upset over No. 1 South Carolina last week due to COVID-19 protocols, was back in the lineup against Auburn.

Blackwell entered Thrusday’s game as Missouri’s leading scorer (16.6 points per game) and rebounding (12.7). The 6-foot guard is also pulling down more defensive rebounds than any player in the country (10.7) and came in ranked second in double-doubles, having recorded nine in 13 games.

Though she didn’t take her usual place in the starting lineup and took some time to get back into the flow of things on Thursday, Blackwell added another double-double to her resume. She finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Three other MU players scored in double figures, led by a career-high 25 points from forward LaDazhia Williams, who dominated throughout the evening. She added seven rebounds. Guard Lauren Hansen had 17 points, while forward Hayley Frank recorded 15 points and eight rebounds.

“It’s so fun to see her finally find her rhythm and feel comfortable out there again,” Pingeton said of Williams. “She had a huge night for us.”

With Blackwell and others out, Mizzou had only eight players available in the upset of the Gamecocks last week. More MU players tested positive for COVID over the weekend, forcing the team to postpone a game at Vanderbilt scheduled for this past Sunday.

Nearly all of the key players that were out last game were on the court for warmups before Thursday’s contest. However, one notable absence was Haley Troup, who has started at guard in every game this season. She is averaging 7.9 points, 3.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game. Redshirt freshman Skylah Travis also was out.

Though having Blackwell back surely helped matters, Missouri coach Robin Pingeton’s team faced challenging circumstances against Auburn. In accordance with health and safety protocols, Missouri was only able to hold one official practice over the last six days — on Wednesday, the day before the game. And it did so without its scout team.

“It is definitely challenging,” Pingeton said on Wednesday. “Part of our motto this year too is E + R = O. Events are going to happen and how we respond to them will dictate or strongly determine the outcome. … And so we’ve just got to control what we can control and understand this is the cards that have been dealt, we have to deal with them and keep our minds in a good space.”

That rust showed early in the game. Missouri turned the ball over six times in the opening minutes, leading to nine points for Auburn. MU trailed 17-13 at the end of the first quarter.

But Mizzou went on a 7-0 run in a little over three minutes in taking 20-19 lead in the second quarter but wasn’t able to keep it for long. MU made just 2 of 9 shots from beyond the arc through the first two quarters and entered the halftime break down 32-28.

With a little over three minutes left in the third quarter, Frank drove into the paint and scored an and-one bucket that tied the game. She drilled her shot at the free-throw line too, giving Mizzou a 41-40 lead.

Blackwell went up strong in the paint and extended the lead to 43-40 a few minutes later. She scored MU’s next bucket after that as well, driving in from the baseline and putting up a floater. The score capped off a 12-0 run for Mizzou, which led 45-42 at the end of the third quarter.

“Aijha did a really nice job as the game went on playing with better pace, which is huge,” Pingeton said. “When she plays with pace, she’s hard to guard. She’s either gonna draw a double and be able to transfer the advantage — I mean she’s unguardable ... but I think the biggest, the biggest key in that stretch was obviously just give ourselves a chance to score the ball.”

But Auburn stormed back. The visiting team went on a 9-0 run in a little over two minutes and took a 53-48 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Missouri went on a 6-0 run of its own a few minutes later though to put itself back in the contest. Hansen sank a jump shot near the charity stripe which gave Missouri the lead, 54-53, with around four and a half minutes left.

The two teams were locked in a closely contested affair down the stretch. And with the game knotted at 59-59 at the end of regulation, extra time was required.

Hansen opened the extra period with a three-pointer, followed by a contested shot in the paint from Blackwell that gave Missouri a five-point advantage. That bucket marked 1,000 career points for Blackwell, who is in her junior year.

“Just thinking back to the last six months and just finding something deeper,” Blackwell said of what kept MU going in the overtime period. “Getting outside yourself and just fighting for the team at the end of the day, fighting through fatigue.”

Mizzou was in control the rest of the way en route to its 13th win of the season.

“We have so many dog fights ahead of us, it’s not even funny,” Pingeton said. “But I’m not surprised with where they’re at because they’ve earned it. Last year this time, I couldn’t have said they earned it. They have earned it to be where they’re at today.”