FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Missouri 78,
Little Rock 49
@UCF 81,
SIUE 71
@Tennessee State 72, Akron 68
Lindenwood 67, @Kansas City 62
MISSOURI 78, LITTLE ROCK 49
COLUMBIA, Mo. - A string of four consecutive games against Power 5 opponents came to an end Friday afternoon with a 78-49 loss to the Missouri Tigers at Mizzou Arena. Little Rock (1-4) now returns home for its next two, hosting Murray State on Tuesday night at the Jack Stephens Center and Arkansas State on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Faith Lee led the Little Rock offense with eight points, Sug Williams and Brenna Burk each added seven, Emerald Parker dropped in six points and Alaina Payne finished with five. Payne also finished with a team-high six rebounds and added three assists in just 19 minutes off the bench. Jayla Brooks also had three assists and Parker contributed five rebounds and three blocks.
Trailing by 18 after one period, Little Rock went on an 8-2 run to close the gap to a dozen early in the second, then Burk hit a triple to halt a 10-0 Missouri run. Burk came off the bench to lead the team in scoring (5) at the half. Her string of consecutive made free throws ended in the third period at 15. The Trojans put together a 7-0 run to clip the deficit to 29 midway through the fourth and outscored the Tigers by a 19-12 count during the final frame.
UCF 81, SIUE 71
ORLANDO, Fla. - SIUE (1-4, 0-0 OVC) fell to UCF (5-0, 0-0 XII) the final score was 81-71. The Cougars had four players score in double digits against the Knights.
Macy Silvey led the Cougars with 15 points, making 50 percent of her shots from the field. Ava Stoller followed with 14 points, going eight for eight on her free throws and contributing six rebounds.
Molly Sheehan had 11 points, and five assists while Ava Gugliuzza had 12 points.
The Cougars started out strong with Silvey making a layup off a fast break putting the Cougars on the board first.
The Gold Knights led by three points (20-17) by then end of the first quarter. Stoller tied up the game (20-20) at the 9:17 mark of the second quarter off a three-point jumper. Stoller made two free throws at the end of the second quarter that pushed SIUE into the lead.
By halftime, the Cougars were in the lead 36-35.
Returning from the break UCF scored off a layup right away reclaiming their lead. The game was tied back up during the third quarter at 3:53 when Sheehan made a layup evening the scores (49-49).
The Cougars trailed behind UCF for the remainder of the game unable to clinch the win in the end.
TENNESSEE STATE 72, AKRON 68
NASHVILLE - Somah Kamara, Sanaa' St. Andre and Saniah Parker combined to score 54 of Tennessee State's 72 total points as the Tigers beat the Akron Zips 72-68 at home Friday.
Kamara led the Tigers (3-3) with 26 points. St. Andre added 16 points and Parker chipped in as well with 12 points and two steals.
Lyric Cole pulled down four offensive rebounds to lead an offense that racked up second chance opportunities for Tennessee State, grabbing 16 boards and turning them into nine second chance points.
Tennessee State forced 16 Akron turnovers while committing 15 themselves in Friday's game. The Tigers turned those takeaways into nine points on the offensive end of the floor. Cole's two steals led the way for Tennessee State.
Tennessee State started out the scoring by going on a 6-0 run, culminating in a bucket from Kamara, to take an early lead with 7:18 left in the first quarter. The Tigers then lost some of that lead, but still entered the quarter break with a 15-13 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first quarter damage in the paint, scoring eight of its 15 points close to the basket.
Akron rallied to take a 22-19 lead before Tennessee State went on an 8-0 run starting at the 4:24 mark in the second period, highlighted by a three from Kamara, to take a 27-22 lead. The Tigers proceeded to tack on three points to that lead and enjoyed a 37-29 advantage heading into halftime. Tennessee State was strong from deep in the period, knocking down four three-point shots to account for 12 of its 22 points.
Tennessee State continued to preserve its halftime lead before going on a 5-0 run, punctuated by a basket from St. Andre, to expand its lead further to 57-50 with four seconds to go in the third, a score which remained until the end of the third quarter. Tennessee State played well near the basket, scoring 12 of its 20 points in the paint.
The Tigers then held on for the victory in the fourth quarter. Tennessee State fired away from deep in the quarter, knocking down three shots to account for nine of its 15 points.
LINDENWOOD 67, KANSAS CITY 62
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lindenwood women's basketball (4-1, 0-0 OVC) continued their four-game win streak after defeating Kansas City (2-4, 0-0 SL) by a final score of 67-62. It marked the Lions best start to a season since the 2017-18 season (7-0 start).
Gracy Wernli scored a career-high 16 points in the win while shooting 4-7 from the floor and a perfect 6-6 from the foul line. Justis Odom posted her second straight double-digit scoring effort after shooting 4-7 from the floor ending with 12 points.
Lindenwood was impressive from the foul line on Friday going 19-20. Mykayla Cunningham went 7-8 at the line scoring nine points. Cunningham also had a team-high six rebounds, five assists and two steals. The Lions also shot 8-18 from three-point range which is their highest of the season.
Brooke Coffey has scored in double-figures in four out of the first five games this season including 11-points against the Roos. Coffey had the most field-goal attempted on Friday with nine. Alyssa Nielsen scored a season-high 10 points in the win. Ellie Brueggemann also added nine points with three three-pointers.
Despite the win, Lindenwood was out-rebounded 34-27 surrendering 15 offensive rebounds. The Lions assisted on 14 shots compared to just seven by Kansas City. Lindenwood's offense made the most of their trips to the line and three-point shots while the Roos shot 0-9 from deep and only had three foul shots attempted.
The first quarter saw the Roos take a two-point advantage after shooting 66.7% from the field making 10 shots. Lindenwood would trail 20-18 heading into the second. Coffey led the way for Lindenwood with seven early points as LU shot 45.5% from the field.
Lindenwood found themselves ahead heading into the locker room as scoring 21 points in the second quarter. Nielsen scored a team-high eight in the quarter with Wernli scoring seven. LU trailed by as many as five points in the quarter before making a late charge. Wernli nailed a three-point jump shot with 00:38 seconds left in the half to put the Lions up one.
Kansas City held Lindenwood to their lowest point total in a quarter during the game (13) in the third quarter after they were held to 45.5%. Emani Bennett and Tamia Ugass both scored six points in the quarter for Kansas City as they led 52-54.
Lindenwood took a two-point lead with under three minutes to play and never looked back as they out-scored the Roos 15-8 in the final quarter. Lindenwood's defense held UMKC to 23.5% shooting as they pulled away late in-part to going 6-6 from the foul line in the final 10 minutes. Wernli scored seven of her 16 points in the fourth.