Missouri women looking for SEC momentum

COLUMBIA - Robin Pingeton saw some positives during Missouri's recent two-game road trip, despite finishing 1-1.

The Tigers' women's basketball coach praised the fight her young team (12-7, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) showed after a rough start to SEC play. Perhaps more noticeably, though, the Tigers also shot better.

Missouri shot 61.4 percent from the field and 54.5 percent on 3s in an 80-71 loss at LSU last Thursday. Against Vanderbilt on Sunday, Missouri shot 51 percent on field goals and 46.4 percent on 3s. Both were better than their season averages to date.

"Shooting the ball better, a lot better than we had," Pingeton said. "Got a little more balanced scoring and still got a number of things we've still got to work on."

The Tigers have also been getting more scoring from players not named Sophie Cunningham and Cierra Porter in those games.

Redshirt senior guard Lindsey Cunningham had a season-high 16 points against LSU. Freshman Jordan Chavis and Amber Smith each chipped in 12 points against the Commodores.

"I think it's critical, I think you've got to have multiple people that aren't afraid to take shots and stick their shots and hopefully this is a trend that will continue the rest of the reason," Pingeton said of Missouri's secondary scoring, "but I really like what I've seen offensively over the last couple of games other than the obvious turnovers."

For Smith, it was the most points she has had since she started coming off the bench 10 games ago. Smith arrived at Missouri as a four-time all-state selection in Louisiana and began this season as a starter, but moved the bench as fellow guard Lianna Doty began to see more time on the court.

"There's a lot of things I was really attracted to in regards to Amber, just a really good athlete," Pingeton said. "Just a strong, just an explosive (player) and in our system love to have players who have versatility. Just a high character kid, and so there's a lot of moving parts to when we recruit kids. But it's exciting to see, I think we've all seen glimpses of what Amber can do."

Still, like many freshmen before her, Pingeton is looking for more consistency out of Smith. Especially when it comes to being more aggressive.

"You know what we need to see consistently out of Amber is her wanting the ball, because she can do good things with it when she has the ball," Pingeton said. "She has the ability to shoot the 3 and play off the bounce with her back to the basket a little bit. But just not having the mindset that I'm just a role player and here to not mess up."

Being on a team that saw Porter and Sophie Cunningham become impact players in their freshman year last season has helped, and them and the rest of the Tigers have spent the season mentoring Smith and the other newcomers. Now it's just getting time in the gym together to get everything to start clicking.

"I think it will come the more we practice and play together," Smith said. "I'm still trying to get a feel for everything, but I think it will come with age."

Smith and other stepping as also meant more opportunities for rest on a team that already has a short bench with Jordan Frericks and Bri Porter out for the season.

Cunningham in particular has seen her share of games where she has spent an extended time on the court. She only played 26 minutes last Sunday, but played 39 and 40 minutes in the previous two games, respectively.

"It's a lot, both her and Cierra Porter are fighting, they've been soldiers for us," Pingeton said. "We've been trying to give them as many resources and treatments as we can to put them in a position to be able to play come game time."

Missouri hosts Texas A&M (14-4, 4-1) at 8 p.m. today. The Aggies beat the Tigers 81-77 in overtime last season in College State, Texas.

"Offensively they've been shooting the 3 ball maybe better than they have in the past years, they have a couple kids who are really knocking down shots for them," Pingeton said. "Great inside post presence, you'll see some full court pressure defense but not as much as the past. Half-court they'll play a little bit of a matchup zone, they'll play some man, they'll give you some different looks and offensively just really strong and athletic both on the perimeter and on their interior."

Today's game is also Missouri's "We Back Pat" night. We Back Pat was an imitative created by the SEC six years ago where all 14 of its member schools take a night to bring awareness and recognition to the Pat Summitt Foundation and its fight against Alzheimer's disease.

Summitt was Tennessee's head coach from 1974-2012, winning eight national titles and has more wins (1,098) than any men's or women's Division I basketball head coach. She died June 28 from Alzheimer's.

"Just growing up I think every little girl the first program you hear about is Tennessee, at least my age growing up now it's UConn for the younger kids I guess," Lindsey Cunningham said. "For me it was Tennessee and Pat Summit and I just remember watching games and documentaries on her just going to Tennessee and going to play there and see what she's built there it's amazing and you know she's done a lot. She was a trailblazer for women's basketball and women's athletics in general so I think it's really important that we do that."