Five Lady Bears hit multiple 3-pointers, and Missouri State finished 15-for-26 from beyond the arc Saturday afternoon on the way to a 90-59 victory over Northwestern at in the team’s final home game of 2017.
Missouri State’s (4-6) third consecutive win came in impressive fashion, with a season best .515 shooting percentage overall and the team’s most 3-pointers in a game since Dec. 21, 2007. The Lady Bears dished out 22 assists against 11 turnovers, earning their seventh victory over a Power Five school in the last five seasons, and improving to 7-2 all-time at home against Big Ten foes.
Sophomore Alexa Willard scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting, and senior Lee Ann Polowy poured in all of her career-high 12 points during a seven-minute stretch in the fourth quarter just a day after graduating in the same gym. Liza Fruendt added 15 points to move up one notch to 18th on MSU’s career scoring list, and Danielle Gitzen (9), Brice Calip (8) and Elle Ruffridge (8) all came within a bucket of double figures.
The Lady Bears bolted to an 11-0 lead just 3:28 into the contest, and led 24-17 after a quarter thanks to 14 points from Willard. Calip scored all eight of her points in the first 2:17 of the second quarter, and Northwestern (6-6) last closed within single digits at 39-30 with 3:33 remaining before half.
Missouri State held the Wildcats scoreless for the next eight minutes while ripping off a 12-0 run to lead 51-30 on a Gitzen basket with 6:48 remaining in the third period. Fruendt then knocked down her third triple of the game for a 60-36 lead with 2:13 left, and the Lady Bears kept the margin at 20 points or more from there.
The Lady Bears finished off the JQH Arena-record 3-point performance by going 8-for-11 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 34 points.
Gitzen and Aubrey Buckley grabbed six rebounds apiece to help MSU to a 33-28 lead on the glass, and Calip and Abby Hipp each dished out five assists without a turnover, the first Lady Bear freshmen to accomplish that feat since Karly Buer in 2010.
The Lady Bears limited themselves to 11 turnovers, grabbed nine steals, and posted their 34-for-66 shooting effort against an NU club that allowed 34.4 percent on the season coming into the game.
MSU closes the non-league schedule on Tuesday with a 12 p.m. game at Alabama, and opens Missouri Valley Conference play Dec. 29 at Indiana State. The Lady Bears return home Jan. 5 for a 7 p.m. showdown with Drake.
