COLUMBIA, Mo. – Janiah McKay scored a season-high 23 points, but Auburn was unable to overcome a big early deficit in a 74-65 loss at No. 25 Missouri Sunday afternoon.
Auburn (15-6, 3-4 SEC) cut what had been a 29-point Missouri lead to as few as eight points in the fourth quarter and outscored the host Tigers by 20 points over the final 14 minutes, but a difficult first quarter was too much for Auburn to overcome.
"We started making some shots and getting some defensive stops," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said of Auburn's late rally. "They still scored, but we started forcing turnovers and scoring in transition – the same thing we could have been doing all game long. There was nothing different that we did except play. It takes too much energy and everything out of you to keep coming back and fighting like that. We need to start the game with that same type of intensity and effort."
McKay's 23 led four Tigers in double figures. Crystal Primm added 12 points, Daisa Alexander had 11 and Brooke Moore scored 10.
After missing its first 11 shots, Auburn finished at 42% for the game. Missouri hit 11 3-pointers in the first half but was held to just one in the second half and finished at 49% from the field for the game. Auburn scored 20 points off 17 Missouri turnovers.
Mizzou led 23-2 after one quarter when Auburn went 1-of-14 from the field while Mizzou shot 50% (5-10) on 3-pointers alone. Auburn cut the deficit to as few as 16 late in the second quarter, but Mizzou kept hitting 3-pointers – 11 of them in the first half alone – and took a 43-23 lead at the break.
Missouri had its largest lead at 58-29 with 4:33 to play in the third quarter, but Auburn cut that to a 19-point deficit at the end of the quarter at 62-43. Auburn then outscored Mizzou 22-12 in the fourth, getting as close as eight points when a McKay 3-pointer made it 66-58 with 3:19 to play. But Missouri took care of business at the free-throw line down the stretch and Auburn could get no closer.
Sophie Cunningham led Missouri with 30 points.
Auburn wraps up January with another road trip as the Tigers travel to Oxford, Miss., to take on Ole Miss at 7 p.m. CT Thursday.