MURRAY, Ky. – Missouri State women’s basketball improved to 13-5 (7-2 MVC) on the season with an 84-74 road victory over Murray State here Sunday afternoon. The win also marked head coach Beth Cunningham’s 200th career victory.
After trailing by 13 points at the half, 45-32, the Lady Bears came out on fire to open the third quarter. Out of the locker room, Missouri State immediately put together a 12-4 run with baskets from five different Lady Bears to cut the Racer lead to five points. After swapping possessions, the Lady Bears had another big surge in them, outscoring Murray State 15-3 over the final 4:13 of the third quarter to lead 64-56 with a quarter to play.
Freshman Kyrah Daniels provided a huge spark in the period, scoring 12 points and going a perfect 4-for-4 from long range in the turning point of the game. MSU’s 32-point third quarter was their largest scoring quarter of the season, as the Lady Bears shot 69 percent (11-16) from the field, 86 percent (6-7) from three and 100 percent (4-4) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, the Lady Bear defense held the Racers to 4-for-13 from the field while forcing 11 turnovers in the third quarter alone and turning those mishaps into 15 points.
The Racers had one final push in them, cutting Missouri State’s lead to two points after a 9-3 spurt to open the fourth quarter. However, the Lady Bears remained resilient and had an answer of their own as a Kennedy Taylor layup sparked a 13-2 run to extend MSU’s lead back to 13 points. The run included seven makes at the charity stripe to ultimately ice the game for the Lady Bears, who would go on to secure a 10-point, 84-74, victory and improve to 7-2 in Missouri Valley Conference action.
The opening quarter saw a game of runs as each team threw their punches, with Missouri State owning a slight two-point advantage after the first 10 minutes in Murray.
Kaemyn Bekemeier got things off to a good start in the second frame with a triple in the first minute, but the rest of the quarter belonged to the Racers. Following a Jade Masogayo jumper to give Missouri State its largest lead of the first half at six points, Murray State finished the period on a 23-4 run that spanned the final 7:01 of the half to take a 45-32 lead into halftime. Missouri State shot just 33 percent in the second and turned the ball over seven times which led to 13 Racer points.
Lacy Stokes led the way for Missouri State on the day with 16 points, followed by Daniels with 14 points (5-8 FG, 4-4 3FG). Taylor turned in her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points (4-6 FG, 4-4 FT) and 10 rebounds, in addition to blocking three shots. Indya Green also collected a career-high five steals.
As a unit, the Lady Bears knocked down a season-high nine three-pointers and forced 28 Murray State turnovers on the afternoon. Missouri State also blocked seven shots and recorded 17 assists on 30 field goals.
Missouri State closes out a three-game road stretch next week a Southern Illinois. The Lady Bears face the Salukis on Saturday, February 3 at 4 p.m. in Carbondale.
