SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State placed four scorers in double figures and used a 34-5 run midway through the contest to help secure a 68-43 Missouri Valley Conference victory against Evansville Sunday at JQH Arena.
With their fifth straight win, the Lady Bears improved to 13-10 overall and 9-3 in MVC play, now three games ahead of the two teams tied for fourth place in the standings.
Liza Fruendt (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Alexa Willard (10 points, 11 rebounds) became the first MSU duo to record double-doubles in the same game since November 2015, while Danielle Gitzen scored a career-high 15 points and Lexi Hughes tallied 16 on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc to go with four assists.
Gitzen’s jumper late in the first quarter made it 16-11 and sparked the game-deciding run that saw MSU out-score the Aces 25-5 in the second quarter and open the second half with a 7-0 spurt that ended with two Aubrey Buckley free throws for a 48-16 lead with 8:42 to play.
The Lady Bears kept the lead at 22 points or better from there, limited UE (8-16, 3-10) to 25 percent shooting in the game and owning a 50-32 rebounding advantage. Willard grabbed seven of MSU’s 17 offensive caroms, while freshman Shameka Ealy logged three of Missouri State’s eight blocked shots.
Other game notables included Hughes becoming the 39th player in school history to surpass 800 career points, and Fruendt’s streak of nine consecutive games with multiple 3-pointers coming to an end as the second-longest at Missouri State behind Melody Howard’s streak of 13 games in 1994.
The Lady Bears head to Illinois next week for games at Bradley (7 p.m. Friday) and Illinois State (11:30 a.m. Sunday).
a.m. Sunday).
