Women’s Basketball Opens SEC Tournament Against Arkansas

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 9 seed University of Missouri women’s basketball team begins the 2023 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament Thursday with its third contest of the season against No. 8 seed Arkansas. First tip from Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT, the action will be broadcast on SEC Network and The Varsity Network.

The winner of Thursday’s contest will advance to the tournament quarterfinals and earn a contest against undefeated top-seed South Carolina Friday at 11 a.m. CT in Greenville.

The Tigers earned the No. 9 seed in the tournament with a 17-12 regular-season record and a 6-10 SEC mark to finish ninth in the SEC standings. In Mizzou’s most recent outing, the Tigers fell in their finale against Florida, 61-52.

Senior forward Hayley Frank led Mizzou’s offense with 16 points. It was the 16th occasion this campaign that Frank has held a share of the scoring lead, and she supplemented her offensive efforts with six boards.

For her dominant efforts throughout the regular season, the Southeastern Conference named Frank to the All-SEC Second Team list. She averaged a career-best 15.4 points per game while shooting 46.4 percent from the field along with 39.9 percent on 3-pointers.

In her final game at Mizzou Arena, graduate guard Haley Troup finished with a strong performance with seven points and eight rebounds. Entering Thursday’s contest, Troup has appeared in 145 games, the most in program history.

On Tuesday, freshman guard Ashton Judd earned All-SEC Freshman Team honors. As one of the key Tigers coming off the bench, Judd averaged 7.4 points per game along with 3.0 rebounds per contest. She also shot 44.9% from 3-point range, the third-best clip in the SEC and the top rate for a freshman in Mizzou program history.

Entering the third matchup of the season between the Tigers and the Razorbacks, Arkansas leads the all-time series 20-13, winning the last nine contests dating back to 2019. The Razorbacks swept the regular-season series, taking the last leg in Fayetteville, Ark., 61-33.

According to the latest Charlie Creme Women’s Bracketology, Arkansas is among the First Four Out after finishing with a 20-11 overall record with a 7-9 SEC mark to finish eighth in the conference standings.

With head coach Mike Neighbors on the bench for his fifth season, he has accumulated a 116-74 record during his stint in Fayetteville. Neighbors is seeking to lead the Razorbacks into the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season.

The Razorbacks ended their campaign on a high note, closing out the regular season with Sunday’s win over Texas A&M. Prior to that contest, Arkansas had lost its last three games.

In postseason awards, Arkansas matches Mizzou by having one All-SEC Second Team selection, Erynn Barnum, and an All-SEC Freshman honoree, Saylor Poffenbarger.

Barnum averaged 16.3 points per game on a conference-best 57.3 percent shooting mark along with 6.6 rebounds per game in her senior season.

Poffenbarger tied Barnum’s team-high 6.6 boards per contest while contributing 8.7 points per game. The freshman also averaged 32.4 minutes per game, the second-most on the Razorbacks.

Arkansas’ offense is one of the most productive in the SEC, ranking fourth in the conference by scoring 72.8 points per game. The Razorbacks succeed by taking care of the basketball with the second-fewest turnovers per game (13.7) and making the second-most 3-point field goals per contest (8.0) in the SEC.

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