NORMAL, Ill. – Missouri State women’s basketball (10-4, 4-1) fell on the road at Illinois State, 85-78, in a hard-fought battle that marked the Lady Bears’ first loss in Missouri Valley Conference play this season.
After going down by seven to begin the second half, Missouri State took its first lead of the night at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter on a Kennedy Taylor layup. Following a brief tie, MSU reeled off an eight-point run, bookended by treys courtesy of Paige Rocca and Kyrah Daniels to retake the lead. With Illinois State (10-5, 3-2) answering back over the next couple of minutes the game saw two more ties in the third, but Lacy Stokes gave MSU the edge at the end of the frame, knocking down a triple late in the shot and game clock to put Missouri State in front, 65-62, with 10 minutes to play.
The Lady Bears held on to the lead in the early part of the fourth quarter, as a Taylor and-1 gave MSU a five-point lead with 5:57 on the clock. However, following an Illinois State called timeout, the Redbirds put together seven straight points to take a two-point lead.
Despite Taylor tying the game once more, Illinois State used a 10-3 run to end the game as MSU was forced to foul down the stretch, ending the Lady Bears’ seven-game win streak.
The Lady Bears found themselves in an early hole on the road in Normal, as Illinois State jumped out to an 11-2 lead over the first three minutes. Missouri State eventually settled in and cut the lead to three points after three consecutive layups. Following an Illinois State free throw, Stokes would drive it in for another layup to cut the deficit to two points. For the rest of the period, the lead would hover between three to five points as the squads traded baskets.
Missouri State then cut the lead to a single point within one minute in the second period behind triples from Kaemyn Bekemeier and Indya Green. Illinois State came out firing as well, putting together a 10-2 run to push the Redbird lead back to nine, but MSU wasn’t going away quietly. A 6-0 surge with three straight jumpers made it a one possession game, then Stokes caught the Redbird offense off guard, stealing the ball and tossing it to Angel Scott who drained the triple to tie the game at 35-35 with less than a minute remaining in the half.
Illinois State got to the free throw line on their last possession of the half, knocking down both to take a two-point, 37-35 lead into the half.
The difference-maker in this one was at the free throw line as the Redbirds went 31-for-36 compared to MSU’s 4-for-8 night at the stripe. The Lady Bears forced 18 Illinois State turnovers and knocked down a season-high eight triples, but it wasn’t enough in the end.
Taylor led the way for MSU with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting, followed by Daniels with 13 points. Louis Volker and Green joined them in double figures on the night with 10 points each, while Green grabbed a team-high six rebounds. Stokes had an impressive night at the point guard spot, dishing out a season-high eight assists with just one turnover.
Missouri State is back in action next week at home as the Lady Bears welcome Indiana State on Friday, Jan. 19. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. at Great Southern Bank Arena and the game will stream on ESPN+.
