COLUMBIA, Mo. - With less than 30 seconds left, Haley Troup brought down a defensive rebound and heaved it back into play as she fell on the baseline injured.
Missouri called a timeout to get her off the floor, then Lauren Hansen drove under the basket, got blocked and regained possession.
The clock continued to run down with Missouri down a point, then Hansen collected a pass near the right wing, drove once again and put up a layup.
Hansen and the rest of the Tigers watched as the ball hung on the rim and finally fell through the basket with :00.1 left in the five-minute overtime period to put the Tigers ahead by a point.
“Honestly, I’m still in shock,” Hansen said.
Three timeouts later, South Carolina sent the in-bound pass to the basket, where Aliyah Boston caught it and put it through the basket, but the refs rulled it after the buzzer as the unranked and shorthanded Tigers celebrated their first program win against a top-ranked opponent 70-69 against the No. 1-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on Thursday night at Mizzou Arena.
“I couldn’t be more proud of these eight young ladies,” Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said. “Just the grit, the belief, their ability to lean in for each other, to play through tough possessions. … Just an incredible, incredible win.”
Missouri’s minimal roster celebrated on the floor with the depleted coaching staff and former players Sophie and Lindsey Cunningham.
“It was really fun for the players and coaches,” Hayley Frank said. “I mean, the coaches have put in so much work and just instilled so much belief in us. When thing’s haven’t gone well, they kept believing and kept fighting, same with our teammates, there’s no quit ever. So freely celebrating beating the No. 1 team in the country, it’s just an unexplainable feeling.”
Missouri came into the game with only eight available players because of COVID within the program, including the absence of leading scorer and rebounder Aijha Blackwell, which showed with South Carolina’s 47-37 rebounding advantage and 20 offensive boards.
“They’re a great defensive team, a great rebounding team,” Pingeton said. “There’s so many things about South Carolina that’s just elite level.”
Those second-chance opportunities kept the Gamecocks in the game, scoring 22 points after bringing down an offensive rebound, including the final two in regulation to send the game to overtime.
South Carolina jumped out to a five-point lead in overtime when Boston hit a right-wing 3 for three of her team-high 17 points, then Destanni Henderson found Victaria Saxton with a post-entry pass for two more, leaving the Gamecocks ahead 69-64 with 3:35 left.
“We never let each other say die, we never, like, gave up and I think we came into overtime a little bit tired,” Hansen said. “But we realized, it was doable by that point.”
That mentality proved crucial in the final moments with Hansen hitting a layup, for two of her co-game-high 21 points, to bring Missouri within 69-66 with 3:05 left. Frank then drove for a reverse layup, two of her co-game-high 21 points, to bring the Tigers within a points with 48 seconds left.
“We came in and we had belief in the eight we had available,” Frank said. “And we didn’t stop believing for 45 minutes, that’s why we got the result we did. … This is the kind of game that I came to Mizzou for.”
South Carolina led early, taking a 12-6 lead before Missouri fought back to down a point at 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Missouri took its first lead of the game with 9:49 left before halftime when Hansen sank a left-corner 3, then used an 8-1 run, capped by a LaDazhia Williams layup with 2:58 left, to go ahead 27-19. Williams added another layup, her seventh consecutive points for the Tigers, to help lead to the former-Gamecock’s 12-point day.
“I think for her and Troup both, there’s probably some emotions,” Pingeton said. “I’m really proud of her. We knew we needed her to show up, she’s had limited minutes this year, just trying to get back into the flow of things and always trying to get her to get a little bit more aggressive.”
Missouri maintained a multi-possession advantage through the remaining minutes to take a 32-26 lead into halftime.
South Carolina cut the lead quickly in the second half, getting within a point at 32-31 with 7:38 left in the third, then eventually taking its first lead since the first quarter at 40-39 after Kamilia Cardoso turned an offensive rebound into two of her 14 points.
Three lead changes and two ties later, the teams went into the final ten minutes tied at 45.
“Missouri spread us out,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “They made us guard the downhill drive, they spaced us out and made us guard the 3-point line and all the motion in between that.”
Missouri built a lead as far as 60-54 after Mama Dembele scored seven consecutive points for the Tigers on a 3 and two layups, but the Gamecocks came back to tie again at 62.
Troup and Dembele each hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the Tigers ahead 64-62 with :29 left on the clock, but Boston was able to grab an offensive rebound and score two second-chance points to tie the matchup with 21 seconds left.
“When Aliyah was able to be on the floor, she was impactful,” Staley said. “But when she was saddled with foul trouble, we really took a hit. … We just didn’t hit enough shots and we didn’t get enough stops.”
Missouri turned the ball over on the ensuing in-bound after a timeout. South Carolina then held for the final shot, with the last attempt rattling off the rim as time expired to send the matchup to overtime.
“We talked about what a storyline this could be,” Pingeton said. “So what are we gonna do with it?”
Hansen added seven rebounds to her 21-point performance for the Tigers, while Williams had a double-double of 12 points and 12 boards.
Frank scored her 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc.
Boston recorded a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Gamecocks, while Cardoso had eight rebounds to complement her 14 points. Henderson dished out a game-high seven assists for South Carolina.
Missouri (12-2) goes on the road to face Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“They’ve played that style for years,” Staley said of Missouri. “They always give themselves a chance to win.”
South Carolina (12-1) had their Sunday game against LSU postponed, so the Gamecocks will wait until next Thursday to host Kentucky.