COLUMBIA - Last Thursday's exhibition win against Truman State was a stellar debut for two of Missouri's freshmen. Tuesday night's exhibition victory was a team win for the Tigers.
The Missouri women's basketball team blasted the Fontbonne Griffins 121-40 - a few days after a 94-55 blowout of the Bulldogs, in which Aijha Blackwell and Hayley Frank combined to score 47 points - as Amber Smith, Hannah Schuchts, Elle Brown, Brittany Garner, Frank and Blackwell all scored in double figures.
The Tigers had 29 assists to 15 turnovers and scored 49 points on fast breaks off 37 forced turnovers.
"I thought we did a great job of sharing the ball, making the extra pass in the second half, and that's what it's all about," Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said.
Brown scored a career-high 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting, had six steals and made each of her first 10 shots.
Frank scored 17, including eight in the fourth quarter, Blackwell had 16, seven in the fourth quarter, and added nine steals, seven assists and seven rebounds.
Schuchts posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Smith scored 13 and Garner added 12.
Epitomizing the ideal of making the extra pass, Blackwell got one of her steals and had an open runout to the basket, but once inside the restricted area, with a defender closing in, she dumped a pass off to Haley Troup, and Troup immediately connected a pass to the trailing Brown for a lay-in to make it 98-30 Missouri with 7:36 remaining.
"It was awesome. They were playing me at the right time," Brown said of her teammates. "I tell them every day, I'm like, 'I'll run for you. Just look for me, I'll just run. Every time.'"
Freshman forward Micah Linthacum (Jefferson City High School) scored on the next two Missouri possessions, first on a jump shot, then on a layup, to make the score 102-30 with 6:43 to play. It's the first time Missouri has scored 100 or more points since Feb. 23, 2017, in beating Mississippi 100-65 at Mizzou Arena, and the team came close to matching a program record of 126 points scored, which the Tigers set Dec. 8, 2013, in a win against Bradley. All the more impressive is Missouri did so while making just eight 3-pointers.
Linthacum played 10 minutes after missing the Truman State exhibition with an ankle injury, and appeared to be running the floor at full speed. She finished with four points on 2-of-5 shooting with three rebounds and an assist.
Pingeton said before the start of the season this is the most athletic team she's had, and they would use said athleticism to their advantage. True to her word, Missouri had 80 possessions against the Bulldogs and 93 possessions Tuesday, both high numbers for a 40-minute game and a much faster pace than years past, when Missouri played closer to 65-to-70 possessions per game. Missouri's average possession length was 14 seconds against Truman State and 11 seconds against the Griffins, all with 11 eligible players. Brown, Jordan Roundtree, Blackwell and Smith were blowing by defenders on drives to the rim and breaking away on steals with their speed.
Blackwell's passing was visionary at times, and Pingeton joked the talented freshman would have had more than nine assists if Missouri finished better at the rim. The highlight for Blackwell, apart from spiking a block into the stands, was a behind-the-back scoop pass to Garner in the first quarter, and as Garner finished the layup Blackwell raised her arms and flexed.
"Right now, coach basically tells me all the time, 'You're not a freshman,'" Blackwell said. "I don't really come in having the mindset of a freshman. We have big goals here as a team, so I have to do whatever it takes to achieve them with my team."
Missouri opens the regular season Nov. 5 at home against Western Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Notes: Missouri was picked ninth in the SEC Coaches Poll released Tuesday morning. The Tigers were also ninth in the media poll, released before the media days event in Birmingham, Ala., earlier this month. But while the media had South Carolina winning the conference, the league's coaches picked Texas A&M to take the crown. The Tigers were picked ahead of Georgia, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Mississippi and Florida, in that order. Amber Smith was named a coaches' selection to the All-SEC first team, along with Chennedy Carter (also preseason SEC Player of the Year, Texas A&M), Chelsea Dungee (Arkansas), Rhyne Howard (Kentucky), Ayana Mitchell (LSU), Jordan Danberry (Mississippi State), Tyasha Harris (South Carolina) and Rennia Davis (Tennessee).