The Missouri women got great production from the bench and slowed down 16th ranked Vanderbilt’s offense with a 59-54 home win on Thursday night. The Tiger defense held Vandy to 22% shooting and improve to 14-7 overall and 3-5 in the SEC and now has two wins over ranked opponents this season.
Vanderbilt was held without a field goal in the last 6:48 of the half, shooting just 23.3% from the floor in the first 20 minutes of the game. Missouri owned a 33-20 lead at the halftime break and got 20 points from its reserves.
Bri Kulas led Mizzou with 15 points, but fouled out. Â Freshman Kayla McDowell finished with 13 off the bench.
Strong bench play was vital as the Tigers fought through foul trouble, but Tiger defense kept the lead at double-digits until Vanderbilt put together an 11-1 run that closed the gap to 47-41 lead with 4:58 to play and eventually made it a 55-54 game, but Mizzou got two crucial stops in the final minute to hold on. Missouri will now head on the road to face No. 7 South Carolina on Sunday. The game tips off at 2 p.m.