Missouri State jumped out to a 25-point first-half lead Sunday afternoon and held off the league-leading Loyola Ramblers for a 73-62 victory at Gentile Arena.
Loyola (8-8, 4-1 Missouri Valley Conference) cut MSU’s sizeable lead to five points midway through the third period and remained within single digits for much of the second half, but a career-high 17 points and 11 rebounds from Hillary Chvatal helped the Lady Bears (11-7, 4-2) improve to 7-1 on the road this season.
Kenzie Williams added 15 points and Tyonna Snow scored 13 to go with six rebounds and four steals. Snow became the 23rd MSU player with 500 career rebounds in the contest, as well as joining the MVC’s top 10 in terms of career steals.
Missouri State scored the game’s first nine points and held the Ramblers without a score for nearly five minutes to begin the contest. Williams then buried a 3-pointer to pass Cindy Henderson for 12th on MSU’s career scoring list and give the Lady Bears a 12-1 lead, and Chvatal knocked down a trey with 50 seconds left in the first period to make it 21-8.
Chvatal added her third 3-pointer of the game early in the second to make it 26-8, and Williams pushed the opening run of the second quarter to 13-1 with six points in 30 seconds for a 34-9 advantage at the 5:44 mark. Liza Fruendt followed with three foul shots for 37-12 with 3:03 left before the Ramblers closed the half on an 11-2 run to pull to 39-23.
The Ramblers got off to a 7-for-8 shooting start in the second half and quickly closed the gap to five points at 45-40 with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter.
Snow settled things down for the Lady Bears with three free throws and an assist to Chvatal before Fruendt hit a jumper with 3:08 to play to end a 7-0 run with the Lady Bears ahead 52-40.
MSU carried the double-digit lead into the fourth quarter and led 61-47 when Lexi Hughes hit a trey 10 seconds into the final period before the Ramblers began to chip away.
Loyola shot nine free throws over the next six minutes, making six, to close to 67-60 with 3:48 on the clock before the MSU defense clamped down, allowing only one LUC basket the rest of the way while forcing five turnovers in the final three-plus minutes.
Missouri State shot 41.5 percent from the floor and 23-of-29 at the foul line while holding a 39-30 rebounding edge. LUC shot 36.7 percent and made 21 foul shots in 30 tries.
The Lady Bears are back at JQH Arena next week, facing Evansville at 7 p.m. Friday and Southern Illinois at 7 p.m. Sunday.
