CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Missouri State women’s basketball (23-10) concluded its season with a 74-69 loss on the road at Illinois (15-15) in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament here Thursday night.
After Missouri State led by five at the half, Illinois put together a second-half comeback. MSU opened the third quarter with a Kyrah Daniels jumper and Paige Rocca three to push the lead to 10 points. However, that’s when the game took its big turn. Illinois put together eight straight points to cut the MSU lead to two.
The Lady Bears then responded to extend the lead back to six, but Illinois had another surge in them. The Fighting Illini ended the third quarter on a 13-3 run, holding MSU scoreless for nearly four minutes, to lead 55-51 after three in Champaign.
The fourth quarter saw a great battle between the two squads. After going down by seven points, the Lady Bears pulled within three at the 6:46 mark before Illinois once again extended its advantage back to nine points. Missouri State’s final push started with 3:52 on the clock, as Rocca knocked down a couple of free throws and Lacy Stokes and Kennedy Taylor hit layups to make it a three-point game.
Following an Illinois basket to make it a five-point game, Stokes went down and knocked down a step-back three as the shot clock ran down to make it a one-possession game at 70-68. But, the Lady Bears were forced to foul and the Fighting Illini iced the game down the stretch as Missouri State fell 74-69 on the road.
Back in the first half, the two teams battled back-and-forth as the game saw four lead changes and three ties in the opening 10 minutes. Neither team held a lead larger than four points. MSU took a lead late in the first on a Stokes trey and a Jade Masogayo jumper, before Illinois cut the Lady Bear lead to two points at 19-17 to end the first.
Missouri State came out firing in the second period, starting the quarter on an 11-2 run to give the visiting Lady Bears their largest lead of the night at 11 points. The run was sparked by a Kaemyn Bekemeier jumper, before Stokes poured in six points and Rocca capped it with a three-point bucket.
From there, Illinois was able to keep things close, responding with a couple of threes to eventually cut the Lady Bear lead to four points. But a Stokes free throw at the 2:08 mark in the period marked the final point for either team in the half as Missouri State led 37-32 at the intermission.
Stokes led the way for Missouri State with 22 points and five assists, including 16 first-half points on 6-for-9 from the field. Taylor joined in double figures with 12 points and nine rebounds. As a team, the Lady Bears shot 40 percent from the field and 71 percent from the free throw line. MSU also owned a slight advantage in the paint, 34-32, and led 18-0 in bench points.
