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SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State’s Lexi Hughes hit a driving shot in traffic with 1.4 seconds remaining Sunday to give the Lady Bears a 64-62 victory and knock Arkansas (9-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten at JQH Arena.
Hughes finished with 12 points and five assists while taking three charges, Liza Fruendt netted a season-high 23 points, including five 3-pointers, Aubrey Buckley scored a career-high 14 points and Rachel Swartz grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds as MSU opened up a six-game home stand with its second consecutive win against the Razorbacks.
Missouri State (3-6) led for much of the second half after shooting 9-for-13 in the third quarter, going on a 22-12 run over the final 8:39. Fruendt’s fifth trey made it 41-39 at the 5:30 mark, and the Lady Bears slowly grew the margin to as many as seven points on a Hughes jumper with 45 ticks left before Arkansas scored to make it 52-47 after three periods.
Buckley converted a three-point play with 7:27 left to maintain MSU’s five-point advantage, and Hughes added a free throw with 4:47 remaining for a 57-53 score before Arkansas evened the count at 57-all just over two minutes later. Fruendt and Swartz score on Missouri State’s next two possessions for a 61-57 lead with 1:15 left before the Razorbacks scored an and-one with 10.9 ticks on the clock for a 62-62 tie to set up Hughes’ heroics.
Arkansas scored the game’s first five points and led 11-3 midway through the first period before MSU hit its final five shots of the quarter to pull to 18-15. A Fruendt trey at 7:31 in the second period gave the Lady Bears their first lead of the game at 23-21, and the lead changed hands five more times in the quarter before the Razorbacks closed on a 5-0 run to lead 33-30 at the break.
The MSU defense held Arkansas to 30.8 percent shooting and 5-for-18 from long range, and only trailed 40-39 in rebounding against a Razorback club that averaged a plus-12 margin per game entering the contest. The Lady Bears went 8-of-21 from long range, shot 39.3 percent overall and blocked a season-high seven shots, including three from Swartz.
The Lady Bears return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. against North Texas (3-6).
