NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt women’s basketball held a fourth-quarter lead over Missouri, but the Tigers escaped Memorial Gymnasium with a 78-66 win Thursday night.
The defeat snapped Vanderbilt’s nine-game home winning streak against unranked opponents as the Commodores dropped to 13-13 overall and 3-10 in SEC play.
Three Commodores finished in double figures led by junior Chelsie Hall’s 15 points, fifth-year senior Mariella Fasoula’s 14 points and six rebounds, and 10 points and eight boards from freshman Koi Love.
How it Happened
Missouri scored 12 points off turnovers in the first 10 minutes, buried a trio of threes and jumped out to a 21-13 lead after the first quarter.
Missouri’s lead grew to 24-15 at the 8:17 mark of the second quarter, but Vanderbilt battled back with a 10-0 run that was capped by a long jumper from Hall. The run expanded to 14-2 and the Commodores led 29-26 when Hall buried another jumper with 3:01 left in the half.
Vanderbilt took the second quarter, 20-10, and led 33-31 at the break.
The teams traded buckets throughout the third quarter. No team led by more than five and it was a dead heat, 52-52, heading into the final 10 minutes.
Fasoula’s three-point play to start the fourth quarter gave the Commodores their largest lead of the game, 55-52. But the Tigers responded with a 13-2 run and led 65-57 with under five minutes remaining.
Missouri’s lead grew to 69-59 with 3:40 to go. Hall hit a three to pull within 69-62, but the Tigers scored the next seven and never looked back.
By the Numbers
Sophomore Jordyn Cambridge, who leads the SEC in steals, added four to her total and contributed six rebounds and eight points to go along with a team-high five assists.
Junior Autumn Newby had five rebounds, two steals, two assists and four points, while senior LeaLea Carter scored seven off the bench in addition to three rebounds.
Vanderbilt held a 40-36 edge in rebounding and both teams shot just over 40 percent, but the Tigers were 8 of 23 (34.8%) from three and the Commodores finished 1 of 10 from behind the arc.
On Deck
Vanderbilt has two more road games to close out the month. Next up, the Commodores head to Knoxville to play the school to the East on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. CT Sunday and then travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on LSU at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
The 2019-20 regular season comes to a close with senior day against Kentucky at 1:05 p.m. on March 1 followed by the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C., March 4-8.
