COLUMBIA, Mo. — Lauren Hansen made a driving layup with 0.1 seconds left and Missouri stunned No. 1 South Carolina 70-69 in overtime Thursday night in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
The Tigers (12-2) overcame the absence of scoring leader Aijha Blackwell and four other players to beat a No. 1 team for the first time in program history. They were previously 0-8 against No. 1 ranked teams.
“This is a huge win for us and I couldn’t be more proud,” Missouri coach Robin Pingleton said. “The grit they showed and the belief. Their ability to play through tough possessions and different players stepped up at different times.”
It marked only the seventh time an unranked team has beaten the top-ranked team, and the first since Colorado beat Stanford on Jan. 17, 2021. South Carolina had won 43 straight nonconference games.
South Carolina (12-1) was coming off its biggest comeback in school history, overcoming an 18-point deficit to beat No. 2 Stanford last Tuesday. On Thursday night, the Tigers always had an answer when the Gamecocks cut it close.
Hansen and Hayley Frank each scored 21 points, LaDazhia Williams added 12, and Mama Dembele had 11. The Gamecocks trailed by as many as six in final three minutes of regulation. No. 1 ranked teams have lost seven consecutive overtime games.
“Wins like this don't just happen, but it s body of work over time,” Pingleton said. “Even though there were some players not here, we want to acknowledge them.”
Aliyah Boston scored 17 points for South Carolina. Kamilla Cardoso added 14, and Zia Cooke had 10.
"We really take a hit when she is not on the floor, 28 minutes is a lot of minutes, but not enough minutes," South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “Our team can learn from this and they listen the most after losses.”
With the Gamecocks up 69-68 with less than five seconds to play, Hansen drove to the basket and scored on a layup to upend South Carolina. The Gamecocks made a layup at the end of overtime, but it was deemed not off in time and the Tigers completed the upset.
The loss snapped the longest active streak of wins against unranked opponents at 43 that was held by South Carolina. It's also their first loss to an unranked SEC foe since 2017 which was also at Missouri.
It's the Tigers fourth straight win and first win against a ranked opponent since 2019.
BIG PICTURE
South Carolina: Boston couldn’t quite get it going in the first half, which proved costly for the Gamecocks. They’ll have a week to regroup before their next game.
Missouri: This is potentially their biggest win in program history and they did it playing just seven players. For a team picked 10th in the preseason poll in the SEC, the Tigers appear to be a much more lethal group in the conference and maybe even the nation.
UP NEXT
South Carolina: At LSU on Jan. 6.
Missouri: At Vanderbilt on Sunday.