WICHITA, Kan. — Wichita State took the first game of a non-conference home-and-home series with Missouri State Wednesday evening, handing the Lady Bears a 72-58 loss inside Koch Arena in a battle of former Missouri Valley Conference rivals.
The Shockers (2-6) scored the game’s first five points and led 15-7 after their third 3-pointer of the game with 1:39 left in the first quarter. WSU shot 54 percent in the opening period and capitalized on seven MSU turnovers, but the Lady Bears (1-5) rallied with a 5-0 run to start the second period.
Missouri State trailed 21-20 on a Liza Fruendt jumper with 5:08 until halftime, and kept the Shockers without a field goal for more than five minutes before another WSU trey with 4:51 left opened the flood gates for the home team to go on a 16-3 run that resulted in a 37-23 lead with 8:28 to go in the third period.
A Fruendt layup with 6:12 left in the third quarter marked the first of three times MSU cut the Wichita lead to nine points, but the Shockers connected on six consecutive field goals after another Fruendt basket made it 43-34, extending their lead to 55-39 after three quarters.
The Lady Bears opened the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run and cut the deficit to eight points with 3:22 remaining on a pair of Fruendt free throws. Missouri State pulled within eight on two more occasions but could get no closer, as the Shockers sealed the game at the charity stripe to complete an 18-for-20 night from the line.
Fruendt finished with a game-high 21 points, while four Shockers scored in double figures. WSU shot 56 percent in the second half and 24-for-48 in the game, while the Lady Bears shot .396 (21-53) from the floor and 2-for-15 from long range compared to 6-for-10 for the Shockers, who entered the game at 25 percent on the year.
Each team turned the ball over 16 times, and WSU led 31-28 in rebounding.
MSU will have a short break before returning to action Dec. 4 with a 6:30 p.m. contest at Little Rock, and Wichita State makes the return trip to Springfield on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
