The Missouri State Lady Bears earned their 10th road victory of the season Sunday afternoon, matching the 1990-91 squad for the second-best total in program history with a 66-47 triumph over Evansville at the Ford Center.
Missouri State (18-9, 11-4 Missouri Valley Conference) held the Purple Aces (2-23, 1-13) without a field for more than five minutes to begin the game, but still trailed 7-5 until the defense held the home team without scoring for over 10 minutes while the offense rattled off a 14-0 run to lead 19-7 on a Liza Fruendt 3-pointer with 5:06 left before half.
The Lady Bears then went through a four-plus minute drought before scoring the final four points of the half to lead 23-12 as UE shot 4-for-26 overall.
MSU scored four quick layups in the second half to lead 31-15 and force an Evansville timeout with 6:02 to play in the third, and kept the lead in double figures to a 43-29 score after three quarters.
Kenzie Williams scored twice in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, matching MSU’s largest lead at 16 points each time, before UE used a 6-0 run to make it 49-39 with 4:46 to play. Lexi Hughes hit a trey 11 seconds later to spark a 7-0 run, and the Lady Bears led by at least 15 points until the final buzzer.
Missouri State finished the game with a .414 shooting percentage while limiting Evansville to 28.1 percent, completing the season’s second-best defensive effort in terms of both points allowed and field goal percentage in Kellie Harper’s 50th win as MSU head coach.
Hughes finished with a season-high 15 points – 10 in the fourth quarter – and was joined by Williams and Tyonna Snow in double figures with 11 apiece. Snow passed Kelly Mago for 10th in MSU history with 1,487 career points, while Williams became the 10th player at MSU with 500 career points, 500 rebounds and 50 blocks.
The Lady Bears held a 49-37 rebounding edge, led by Williams with eight, while freshman Danielle Gitzen matched a career high with six assists.
MSU plays its final three regular season games at JQH Arena, beginning with a 2 p.m. Saturday contest against Wichita State.
