Jan. 26, 2017
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COLUMBIA, Mo. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" Janiah McKay scored 14 points and Emari Jones added a career-high 11, but Auburn dropped its first SEC road game of the year, falling at Missouri 68-53 Thursday night.
Auburn (14-7, 4-3 SEC) went cold in the second half as Missouri's Cierra Porter scored a career-high 27 points to lead all scorers. Mizzou improved to 15-7 overall, 5-3 in the SEC.
"I thought we became a little stagnant," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "We moved slowly defensively and offensively. We would get out of place defensively, then we would foul. When you're playing Missouri, you've got to let the game come to you. You've got to be patient offensively. You can't just stop and stand because people aren't being guarded.
"We just can't play like this. We began to stand around, and that's not who we are. We're a defensive team and we have to get defensive stops. We didn't get stops against Kentucky and we didn't get stops against Missouri. We have to be a better defensive team."
Auburn shot 30.4 percent from the field while allowing Missouri to shoot 53.3 percent, the highest by an Auburn opponent this season. Known as a 3-point shooting team, Missouri took the ball inside, outscoring Auburn in the paint 36-16. Missouri also controlled the boards, outrebounding Auburn 40-27.
Eight of McKay's 14 points came at the free-throw line, but Auburn was just 13-of-22 at the stripe one game after hitting all 14 attempts against Kentucky. Katie Frerking added 10 points for Auburn, and Jessica Jones was Auburn's leading rebounder with six.
Free throws kept Auburn in a foul-plagued game ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" a combined 47 fouls led to 42 free-throw attempts - through a third quarter where the Tigers made just one field goal; Mizzou took a 47-37 lead after three. But the shooting woes continued until late in the fourth as Auburn made just three shots in the first eight minutes of the final period. Meanwhile, Missouri kept feeding Porter, who scored 13 of her 27 in the final 10 minutes, extending their lead to as many as 22 points late in the quarter.
Missouri maintained a slim lead for most of the first half, taking a 33-26 lead at the half. Mizzou, outrebounding Auburn 22-10 and shooting 58 percent from the field, led by as many as 11 late in the second quarter before Auburn ended the period on a 4-0 run.
Auburn continues its midseason road swing Sunday when the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. Game time is 5 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum with the broadcast on SEC Network.