Cunningham's 27 leads No. 16 Mizzou past Illini 72-55

Dec 23, 2017, 07:26 am

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Sophie Cunningham continued her torrid shooting, scoring 27 points to lead No. 16 Missouri to its 12th-straight win on Friday, 72-55 over Illinois.

Cunningham was 8 of 11 from the field with three 3-pointers and 8 of 8 from the foul line for her 25th career game with at least 25 points. In the last for games she is 32-of-47 shooting, including 16 of 26 behind the arc.

Cierra Porter added 11 points and Jordan Frericks 10 and both had seven rebounds as the Tigers (12-1) dominated the boards 40-25.

Brandi Beasley had 14 points and Alex Wittinger 13 for the Illini (9-5), who had won four straight.

Cierra Rice had a 3-point play and Jnaya Walker a layup as Illinois scored the last five points of the first quarter to lead 21-18. Cunningham had back-to-back 3-pointers and, a couple minutes later, added two layups in a 7-0 run that helped Missouri go up 37-29 at the half.

The Tigers closed the third quarter with a 12-2 run and led 63-44.

Missouri shot 51 percent for the game (25 of 49) while Illini was at 34 percent (21 of 62).