The University of Missouri Tiger women’s basketball team had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but another sluggish third quarter left them too much of a hole to climb out of as Mizzou dropped a 68-66 outcome at Ole Miss on Sunday, Feb. 23.

The Tigers overcame an early injury to Averi Kroenke, going on a 7-2 run to close out the first quarter tied at 18. Mizzou went on an 11-2 run to take a 40-30 lead into the locker room at the half. That lead was upended in five minutes, as Ole Miss went on a 19-3 run and doomed Mizzou to another anemic third quarter. Three pointers from Grace Slaughter and Abbey Schreacke helped to contain the damage, though Mizzou was trailing 59-51 heading into the final term. The Tigers limited Ole Miss to just nine points in the fourth quarter, but even as they closed the lead to one, Mizzou were unable to take advantage of openings presented by Ole Miss, who only made one of their six final free throw attempts but claimed two of their 17 offensive rebounds. Laniah Randle had a chance to tie the game, but her layup fell short as time expired.

Mizzou shot 52 percent from the field and had six three-pointers, but they allowed 23 turnovers to Ole Miss’ 12, and were outscored in the paint 44-32. Grace Slaughter led Mizzou with 18 points, while Ashton Judd added 17 points and Laniah Randle finished with 13. The Tigers fall to 13-16 on the season, 2-12 in the SEC. Mizzou will visit Arkansas on Thursday night in a battle of the two teams at the bottom of the conference standings.