DES MOINES, Iowa – Missouri State women’s basketball fell to 17-7 (11-4 MVC) after suffering a 76-65 loss at Drake (21-5, 14-1) here Thursday night.
After MSU held a narrow two-point advantage at the half and owned the lead for the majority of the third quarter, the Drake Bulldogs put together a comeback effort to ultimately secure the win at the Knapp Center.
Missouri State came out of the intermission and extended its lead from two points to nine points at the 5:48 mark of the third. Indya Green accounted for six of MSU’s first 10 points in the period to give the Lady Bears a spark. However, the Lady Bears couldn’t sustain the momentum as Drake surged for a 16-2 run, half of those points coming from Anna Miller, shortly after the Bulldog timeout to lead by five. Drake would hold that five-point advantage heading into the final period.
In the fourth, the Lady Bears wouldn’t go away quietly as MSU cut the Drake lead to two points on three different occasions. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs had an immediate answer for every Missouri State bucket. From there, a six-point surge from Drake gave the home team the separation it needed for the rest of the game as MSU suffered an 11-point loss on the road.
It was close game from the jump in Des Moines with Missouri State scoring the first points of the night. Following five points from the Bulldogs’ Grace Berg, MSU then reeled off eight consecutive points to take a five-point lead near the midway point of the opening quarter. The squads then traded baskets as MSU continued to hold on to the lead, but a Drake triple with 1:01 remaining gave the Bulldogs a one-point lead after the first 10 minutes.
Back-to-back triples in the first couple minutes of the second period gave Drake the five-point advantage, but Lacy Stokes immediately responded with a three-pointer followed by a Jade Masogayo jumper to tie the game at 23-23. With the Bulldogs back up by four, Missouri State scored eight straight to flip the script and give MSU the four-point lead. The final few minutes of the half saw both teams knock down shots, but the Lady Bears led by two, 35-33, at the break.
Masogayo led the way for Missouri State with 19 points (8-12 FG, 3-5 FT), seven rebounds and three blocks. Green joined in double figures with 18 points. Stokes led MSU with four assists and three steals. As a team, Missouri State shot 43 percent (26-61) from the field and 85 percent (11-13) from the free throw line, but were held to just 29 percent (2-7) from three. MSU also lost the important battles on the boards and in the paint.
The Lady Bears will head back to Springfield to begin a three-game home stretch, their final home games of the season. Missouri State welcomes Southern Illinois on Sunday, Feb. 25 with tipoff set for 2 p.m. at Great Southern Bank Arena.
