Auburn Hits The Road to Face Missouri

Janiah McKay (Photo: Auburn Athletics/Dakota Sumpter)

Auburn Women’s Basketball (14-6, 4-2 SEC) looks to climb back into the win column Thursday evening, by taking on Missouri (14-7, 4-3 SEC) at 6 P.M. inside Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri. Auburn fell for just the second time in the SEC schedule last Sunday, 64-60 to Kentucky. The game was delayed for approximately 20 minutes, due to a National Weather Service issued tornado warning for Auburn University just prior to tip-off. Once the game got started, Auburn jumped out to a 19-14 lead to end the first quarter. Brandy Montgomery led the team in scoring at that point with four. The Tigers and Wildcats kept it close for the remainder of the game. There were nine lead changes including five in the fourth quarter. However, Kentucky led Auburn at the end of the remaining three-quarters to pull out the win. Auburn was perfect from the free-throw line in the game, which was the first time that an Auburn team had a 1.000 mark in that category since December 1, 2000, against Ball State. Auburn shot 14-14 from the stripe, led by Montgomery’s six. Montgomery led scoring with 22, Katie Frerking was behind her with 16, Jazmine Jones and Janiah McKay were next in line with eight. Missouri enters the game sixth in SEC standings with a 14-7, 4-3 SEC record, right below Auburn. The Tigers are currently on a three-game winning streak, defeating Vanderbilt (74-68), Texas A&M (78-76), and Arkansas (60-46). Missouri has three players who average double-figure scoring games this season… Sophie Cunningham is the leader with 17 ppg, Cierra Porter has 14.3, and Sierra Michaelis rounds out the pack with 12.3. Porter is also the team’s key rebounder, by bringing down nine boards a game. Missouri is also one of the nation’s best in free throw shooting, shooting 78.5% from the stripe this season. Cunningham has the highest free-throw shooting percentage, .848 (84-99). Auburn faces Missouri Thursday evening at 6 P.M. in Columbia.