ST. LOUIS – Missouri State got a career-high 21 points from Paige Rocca and a double-double from Jade Masogayo but it was not enough here Wednesday as the Lady Bears dropped a 79-67 road decision at Saint Louis University.
The Lady Bears (1-1) extended a two-point halftime advantage to a dozen midway through the third quarter behind a 10-2 run capped by an Angel Scott layup at the 4:53 mark that made it a 44-32 contest.
SLU (2-1) drew within six before Rocca’s third trey of the night extended MoState’ lead to 47-38. By the end of the third quarter, Masogayo’s layup in the final minute had given the visitors a five-point cushion, 51-46.
But the fourth quarter belonged to the Billikens. SLU tied the game, 55-55, on a three-point play by Julia Martinez with 6:28 to go in the contest and took the lead for good, 59-57, on a pair of Martinez free throws at the 5:09 mark.
The Lady Bears missed their next six field goal attempts while they attempted to rally, but SLU ran away with an abundance of trips to the foul line. The Billikens were 18-of-20 at the stripe in the final 3 minutes, 19 seconds, including 9-of-10 by Martinez, to put the game away.
The Billikens outscored MoState 33-16 in the final 10 minutes.
Martinez finished with 21 points for Saint Louis, while Payton Kennedy added 14.
Kyrah Daniels racked up 13 points for the Lady Bears with Masogayo scoring 12 and snagging a game-high 11 rebounds to tie a career high.
The Lady Bears turned the ball over 20 times, including 11 in the second half. They finished 26-of-68 (.382) from the field, 4-of-16 (.250) from beyond the arc and 11-of-18 (.611) at the line with 11 steals.
Missouri State scored 34 of its 67 points in the paint.
Saint Louis was 24-of-54 (.444) overall, 3-of-10 (.300) from bonus distance and 28-of-36 (.778) at the line (25-for-30 in the second half) with 14 steals and a narrow 41-40 rebounding edge.
In the early going, the Lady Bears used an 18-2 run late first quarter to open up a 20-11 lead through the first 10 minutes. Rocca’s six points paced Missouri State’s efforts in the opening stanza.
Saint Louis used its six second-chance points in the second quarter to pull ahead on back-to-back put-backs from Camree Clegg and Marcalla Shavers that gave the Billikens a 26-25 lead with 2:30 to go before the half. The lead would teeter back and forth twice more before Rocca’s three at the halftime buzzer pushed the Lady Bears up 30-28 at the midway point.
Missouri State’s 18 points in the paint were also noteworthy in the opening 20 minutes.
The Lady Bears will have a week to prepare for their next contest when the entertain fellow in-state rival, Southeast Missouri State, on Nov. 22 at Great Southern Bank Arena. Tipoff for that matchup is set for 6:30 p.m.
