Wake Forest University
Missouri
Missouri Hands Wake Forest First Loss of Season
11/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Wake Forest women's basketball put up a resilient effort Sunday night at Mizzou Arena, but the Demon Deacons couldn't overcome Missouri in falling 94-81 to the Tigers for their first loss of the 2015-16 season.
Wake Forest had five players in double figures, led by Amber Campbell with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting while going 4-of-4 from long range. Campbell has now finished with 20 points in each of the last two games. Both freshmen Kortni Simmons and Destini Walker finished the evening with 14 points apiece and Ataijah Taylor posted 11 points. Milan Quinn also scored 12 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, giving her a second double-double over a three-game stretch while scoring in double figures in each of those contests.
Missouri was led by a strong shooting performance from Sophie Cunningham. The freshman scored 42 points on 13-of-18 from the floor, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. She also went 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Cunningham combined with Sierra Michaelis to account for all of Missouri's first 30 points of the game before Lindsey Cunningham hit a pair of free throws midway through the second quarter. At the half Cunningham and Michaelis had 25 and 13 points, respectively, and accounted for 38 of Mizzou's 49 points.
The Tigers led by 14 points at halftime at 49-35 and extended the lead to 19 at 63-44 with 5:46 to go in the third period. Trailing 65-46 with 4:03 to go in the third, Wake Forest started a comeback attempt with an 11-2 run to pull within nine points at 67-58 thanks to two buckets during the run from Taylor and Simmons. Wake Forest held Missouri off the board for the final 3:01 of the frame, which helped Wake Forest with its run but as the fourth quarter started, the Tigers opened the period on a 9-0 run or their own to make it an 18-point lead at 76-58 with 7:54 to play.
Following the run to open the quarter, the Demon Deacons' resiliency surfaced again as Wake Forest chipped away at the advantage to pull back within nine points at 79-70 with 5:14 to go and again at 84-75 with 2:44 to go. The effort fell just short, though, as Missouri kept the Deacs at arm's length in not letting them any closer than nine points down the stretch to close out the win.
Wake Forest returns home to the on Wednesday, Nov. 25, for a matchup against La Salle. Opening tip between the Deacs and Explorers is set for 2 p.m. inside the LJVM Coliseum.
