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SPRINGFIELD — Four Lady Bears scored in double figures, led by junior Lee Ann Polowy’s 20 points on a perfect shooting day, as Missouri State closed the exhibition season with a 87-46 victory Sunday afternoon against Northeastern State at JQH Arena.
Polowy knocked down six 3-pointers and a layup on her seven shooting attempts, freshman Alexa Willard added 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Liza Fruendt scored 12 and Shameka Ealy added 10 to help the Lady Bears shoot 52.3 percent overall and make 12 of their 25 3-point attempts.
Missouri State never trailed in the game, and held the Riverhawks to eight points over a 20-minute span in building a 48-13 lead early in the second half. MSU’s lead grew to 40 points at 55-15 on a Polowy trey with 4:29 left in the third quarter, and the Lady Bears used a late 11-0 run to go ahead 87-43 before NSU scored with 12 seconds to play.
Ealy, Willard and fellow freshman Brice Calip combined for 32 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, and senior Rachel Swartz grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to help the Lady Bears to a 51-22 lead in that category.
All 11 players scored as MSU dished out 22 assists on 32 field goals, with five apiece coming from Danielle Gitzen and Lexi Hughes. The Lady Bears turned 17 offensive rebounds into 21 points and scored 43 points off the bench.
Missouri State limited the Riverhawks to 28.1 percent shooting overall and 8-of-28 from long range.
The Lady Bears open the regular season Friday at 7 p.m. at Memphis.
