University of Missouri
24-8
Florida Gulf Coast
31-4
@MizzouWBB's Comes to a Close with Opening-Round Loss to FGCU
3/17/2018 1:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Sophie Cunningham poured in a season-high 35 points
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Women's Basketball's 2017-18 campaign came to a close with an 80-70 loss to Florida Gulf Coast in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The Tigers finished with 24 victories, their most in a season since 1983-84 and reached the Big Dance for the third consecutive campaign for the first time since 1984-86.
Junior Sophie Cunningham scored 35 points to lead all scorers, making 10-of-16 field goals. The 35 points were the most ever by a Tiger in a single NCAA Tournament game in program history. Junior Lauren Aldridge added nine points and redshirt senior Jordan Frericks grabbed nine rebounds in her final collegiate game.
Florida Gulf Coast shot 49 percent from the field, making seven 3-pointers to pull away in the second half and advance to the Second Round.
Turning Point
After back-to-back 3-pointers by Cunningham and Aldridge, Mizzou sliced the deficit to 54-50 with 2:13 remaining the third quarter. FGCU responded with a triple and put together an 11-3 run to go back up by 12. Mizzou couldn't mount another comeback down the stretch and the Tigers fell.
Top Tigers
- Cunningham scored a season-best 35 points, surpassing 20 points for the 13th time as a junior and the 33rd time in her career.
- Cunningham set a new Mizzou single-game NCAA scoring record with 35 points. The previous record was held by Renee Kelly, who scored 28 points vs. Texas in 1986.
- Frericks matched her season-high with three blocked shots and added two points and nine rebounds.
- Junior Cierra Porter scored eight points, and is now just four points shy of 1,000 for her career.
Game Notes
- Frericks finished her career with 1,433 career points (11th all-time), 1,032 career rebounds (2nd all-time) and 132 career blocked shots (5th all-time).
- Cunningham finished the season with 574 points, the ninth-most in a campaign in program history and the most since Amanda Lassiter scored 610 in 2000-01.
- Cunningham has 1,563 career points through three seasons, which ranks eighth all-time at Mizzou. She needs just 564 points to break the all-time Mizzou scoring record.
- Mizzou outrebounded its opponent for the 28th time in 32 games on Saturday.
