SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State returned home from its three-game road trip in style Friday evening, jumping out to an early double-digit lead on Bradley and taking a 74-54 victory over the Braves at JQH Arena.
The Lady Bears (13-10, 9-3 Missouri Valley Conference) never trailed after Liza Fruendt‘s 3-pointer for a 5-3 lead less than four minutes into the game, and senior Aubrey Buckley scored with 2:20 left in the first quarter to spark a closing 10-0 run for a 19-8 lead after 10 minutes.
Missouri State went nearly halfway through the second quarter without scoring as Bradley (11-12, 5-7) cut the gap to four points, but an 8-0 run over the next two-plus minutes – including Fruendt’s 221st career 3-pointer to tie Jackie Stiles for fifth in school history – resulted in a 27-15 lead with 3:10 to play.
An Elle Ruffridge trey with 1:51 left grew the margin to 32-16, it was 32-19 at halftime, and the Lady Bears opened the second half on a 12-2 run that included a pair of Alexa Willard 3-pointers to lead 44-21 with 6:08 on the clock.
MSU went cold after Willard’s second trey, netting only three free throws over the next five minutes while the Braves cut the gap to 45-33. Fruendt and Willard again stepped up with baskets in the final minute for a 52-36 lead after three quarters.
Willard scored with 7:25 left to match MSU’s largest lead to that point at 62-39, and the Lady Bears led by at least 18 points for the rest of the contest.
Fruendt netted a game-high 22 points, her eighth 20-point game of the season and 17th in her career, while Buckley collected 10 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double in the last four games. Willard finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and Brice Calip added five rebounds and five assists.
The Lady Bears shot 40.7 percent compared to 37.3 percent for the Braves, connecting 7-of-14 from beyond the arc and 19-of-23 from the foul line. MSU owned a 40-30 rebounding edge and handed out 13 assists compared to 11 turnovers
