SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball defeated Little Rock, 55-48, here Wednesday afternoon to secure its third straight victory and close out non-conference action.The Lady Bears (5-4) used a couple of second half surges and an impressive 15-point fourth quarter performance from Aniya Thomas to find some breathing room after a low-scoring first half to ultimately defeat Little Rock (3-8) by a seven-point margin.After holding a narrow 17-16 lead at halftime, courtesy of a Kennedy Taylor layup at the buzzer, MSU put together a six-point run right out of the break, kick-started by an Indya Green layup and followed by four Lady Bear free throws. Around two minutes later, beginning at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter, Isabelle Delarue bookended an important 7-0 MSU surge to give the home team a 12-point advantage, the first double-digit lead of the day for either team.Little Rock made it an eight-point game at the end of the third period with a 4-point spurt of their own, but Thomas and the Lady Bears responded with their best quarter of the afternoon in the fourth period.Following a Trojan bucket to start the fourth quarter, MSU was able to answer Little Rock’s scoring and keep the lead at around eight points. Then, Thomas took over. Beginning with a jumper with 7:25 on the clock, Thomas scored Missouri State’s next 13 points to give the Lady Bears a comfortable 14-point lead with under four minutes remaining. Fifth-year senior Sydney Wilson then added her 11th and 12th points of the game to give MSU’s its largest lead of the day at 16 points and its third straight win.In the first half, both teams struggled to get going offensively, with Little Rock taking a five-point lead early in the second quarter. Wilson then knocked down a triple to spark a 7-0 run that saw the Lady Bears go from down five points to up two points, and eventually help MSU lead by a point at the half.Thomas was the game’s leading scorer with 19 points, including her 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field in the fourth quarter, while also collecting two steals and six rebounds. Taylor and Wilson joined Thomas in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Wilson added eight rebounds and three assists, while Taylor pulled down six boards and went 4-for-7 from the field. Green once again led the Lady Bears on the glass, tallying nine rebounds on the afternoon.As a team, the Lady Bears outrebounded the Trojans, 41-25, and kept Little Rock from making a three-point basket. MSU owned a 10-3 advantage in second-chance points and led in bench scoring, 15-5.Missouri State will open conference play on Thursday, Dec. 29 with a trip to Indiana State. Tipoff against the Sycamores is set for 3 p.m. CT.
