Missouri women's basketball prepares for Texas Tech

COLUMBIA — The Missouri women’s basketball team will be in Lubbock, Texas, on Sunday afternoon in search of its first Big 12 Conference win. The Tigers will take on Texas Tech for the second time this season.

In the teams' first meeting in early January, Texas Tech narrowly escaped Mizzou Arena with a 69-63 victory, leaving Missouri with what was then a modest two-game losing streak. Since that time, the Tigers (10-10) have lost seven straight, and are still winless in conference play.

“It’s very hard,” Missouri head coach Robin Pingeton said after her team’s loss to Baylor on Wednesday. “Nobody likes to lose. We’re not used to losing. At least my staff is not used to losing.”

Pingeton’s assistant coaches, Randy Norton, Willie Cox and Jenny Putnam, came from Illinois State to Missouri with Pingeton last season. At Illinois State, they had won three consecutive Missouri Valley Conference regular season championships, amassing 81 wins.

Similar success has not followed Pingeton and her staff from Illinois State. They managed only 23 wins in one and a half seasons. Pingeton, though, says she thinks her team is taking the right steps toward future success.

“We know that building a program, it doesn’t happen overnight,” Pingeton said. “We enjoy coming to work every day. We enjoy working with these young ladies. We’re looking forward to the opportunities in front of us.”

Looking ahead at the Tigers' next chance for a conference victory gives Pingeton and her team a familiar view. What hurt Missouri in its first game against Texas Tech (15-6, 3-6 Big 12) is what has been hurting the Tigers all season: turnovers.

In the Jan. 7 game, Missouri shot 44 percent from the field compared to the Red Raiders' 37.1 percent, but the Tigers turned over the ball 19 times, leading to 22 points for Texas Tech.

For the season, the Tigers have turned the ball over 146 times in conference play while their opponents havedone so just 81 times.

Texas Tech, ranked No. 25 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, is coming off a 67-55 loss to then-No. 18 Texas A&M. The Red Raiders have lost six of their past seven games.