The Missouri State Lady Bears racked up their third straight win with a 69-68 victory over Western Kentucky to close out the Lady Bear Classic here Thursday afternoon in Springfield.Mirroring yesterday’s game, Missouri State (6-3) let the visiting team get off to a quick start in the opening quarter. After scoring the first bucket of the game, the Lady Bears (6-3) struggled to find an offensive rhythm and WKU took advantage as the Lady Toppers put together a 10-1 run to go up by seven points. The visitors would eventually push the lead to nine before Missouri State settled down and collected two layups to make it a five-point game.Trailing by six after the opening quarter in Springfield, MSU came out firing in the second stanza, using a 12-0 surge to flip the score and lead by six points. Lacy Stokes accounted for half the points in the run to help spark the MSU offense. WKU responded with six points off an and-1 opportunity and a triple to cut the Lady Bear lead back to one at the midway point of the second period.MSU put an end to the run and took over once again, stringing together nine points highlighted by an Angel Scott triple and four points courtesy of freshman Kaemyn Bekemeier to extend the lead back to eight.The Lady Bears took a 31-25 lead into halftime after an impressive second quarter that saw the Lady Bears shoot 63 percent from the field (5-8), 67 percent from three (2-3) and 83 percent from the line (10-12) as they outscored the Lady Toppers, 22-10.Coming out of the break, both squads slowed down offensively with MSU shooting 36 percent and WKU shooting just 27 percent from the field in the third period. Missouri State was able to hold the slight, three-point advantage in the period to take a nine-point lead into the final 10 minutes.The Lady Toppers made things very interesting down the stretch, despite the Lady Bears pushing the lead to their largest of the night at 15 points at the midway point of the final period off a Kyrah Daniels three-pointer. WKU went on a scoring spree, putting together a 24-11 run that included five triples to pull within two points of the Lady Bears with 0:20 remaining.Stokes and Kennedy Taylor came up with clutch free throws in the final 0:18 seconds to put MSU ahead by two scores, which proved to be crucial as the Lady Bears put WKU at the line after fouling on a three-point attempt with 0:01 left in the game. Despite giving up 31 points in the final frame, Missouri State held on to secure a one-point, 69-68, victory.Stokes led the way on the afternoon with 16 points and three steals, while Taylor contributed 11 points and seven rebounds. Indya Green was the final Lady Bear in double figures with 10 points and eight rebounds. The Lady Bears shot an impressive 80 percent from the charity stripe, knocking down 24 of 30 attempts at the line.The win pushed MSU’s home win streak to seven games and the Lady Bears have now won 13 of their last 14 at Great Southern Bank Arena.Missouri State will open Missouri Valley Conference action on Saturday, Dec. 30 as they welcome Northern Iowa to Springfield. Tipoff against the Panthers is set for 1 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.
