COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri State women’s basketball fell to 3-3 following an 81-63 loss on the road at Missouri here Wednesday night.
A first-quarter swing was critical in the outcome of the game after MSU took an early lead to begin the game. Paige Rocca got off to a hot start, scoring the first five points of the game for the Lady Bears to tie the game at 5-5 with 6:26 on the clock. With Missouri (7-3) up by two, a 9-0 Tiger run pushed their lead over MSU to 11 points, seven points courtesy of the game’s leading scorer Ashton Judd (20 points).
Trailing 22-11 after one, the Lady Bears played the Tigers to an even second quarter with both squads putting 18 points on the board. A Rocca three just under halfway through the period cut the Missouri lead to as low as five points, but the Tigers responded with a small six-point surge and a Judd triple to push the lead back up to 13 points.
Kennedy Taylor hit a layup as time expired in the first half as the Lady Bears went into the locker room trailing 40-29. The Tigers scored nine points in the half off five MSU turnovers, while MSU scored just two points off five Missouri turnovers.
The second half saw a closer battle as both teams took turns trading baskets. Rocca cut the deficit to 10 early in the third quarter, but the Lady Bears were unable to sustain the momentum as Missouri answered with back-to-back triples. Late in the third stanza, Jade Masogayo and Indya Green connected on layups before the Tigers scored on the fastbreak to make it a 60-46 game going into the final 10 minutes.
Missouri State continued to battle, but the Tigers put together an eight-point run and a few minutes later took their largest lead of the night at 25 points with 4:14 left in the game. Missouri State got a small push late in the game from a couple of freshmen as Kaemyn Bekemeier scored five straight points and Natasha Barnes hit a couple of free throws, but it was too late for the Lady Bears as they fell on the road, 81-63.
Rocca led the way for Missouri State with 13 points, followed by Green and Kyrah Daniels with eight points. The Lady Bears forced 13 Tiger turnovers, but were outmatched in the paint (18-42) and on the boards (36-44).
The Lady Bears are back in action on Saturday, Dec. 16 when they open a six-game home stand against Wichita State. Tipoff at Great Southern Bank Arena is set for 1 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.
West Plains native Ashton Judd led the way for the Tigers with game-highs in both points (20) and rebounds (10).
Strafford’s Hayley Frank scored 14 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, just missing her own double-double.
