NASHVILLE – Missouri State women’s basketball (12-5, 6-2) suffered a 66-55 setback on the road at Belmont (14-5, 7-1) here Friday night in Nashville.
It was a tough start for Missouri State on the evening, with the Lady Bears shooting just 20 percent (3-for-15) to open the game. Meanwhile, Belmont shot 60 percent in the first period and reeled off an 8-0 run following MSU’s first basket of the night. Trailing by four just under the halfway mark of the first, Missouri State hit a cold stretch as Belmont took advantage and finished the quarter on a 10-0 surge to lead 20-6 after a quarter.
In the second quarter, the Lady Bears found an offensive spark in freshman Kaemyn Bekemeier, who scored 12 of Missouri State’s 16 points in the frame. Bekemeier was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from three-point range and 2-for-2 at the line as Missouri State more evenly matched Belmont heading into halftime.
After trailing 38-22 at halftime, the Lady Bears came out of the locker room on fire. Kyrah Daniels and Indya Green combined for Missouri State’s first 11 points in the third, including back-to-back triples from Green to cut Belmont’s lead to eight points at the 6:49 mark. Following a couple of Belmont layups and a three from Jailyn Banks to extend the Bruin lead back to 13 points, the Lady Bears went on a tear.
A Kennedy Taylor and-1 sparked a big-time Missouri State surge, as Taylor and Green scored the final 10 points of the quarter to make it a one-possession game at 47-44 with one quarter to play.
Unfortunately, that is as close as the Lady Bears would get in the comeback effort, as Belmont held the Lady Bears to 33 percent from the field in the fourth and outrebounded MSU 13-7 overall and 5-1 on the offensive glass in the final minutes.
Bekemeier paced MSU with a career-high 14 points (5-8 FG, 2-4 3FG) and five rebounds. She was joined in double figures by Green who had 13 points, on 5-for-6 from the field and a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc. As a team, Missouri State led 26-15 in bench points and shot 73 percent (8-11) at the charity stripe, but was outrebounded 43-32 and lost the battle in the paint, 38-20.
Missouri State will look to bounce back on the road at Murray State on Sunday, January 28. Tipoff in Murray, Ky. is set for 2 p.m. CT and will stream on ESPN+.
