Highlights:
Lady Bears HC Cunningham talks postgame:
Lady Bears’ Linthacum & Rocca talk postgame:
SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball (6-3) came out on top in yet another defensive battle here at Great Southern Bank Arena with a 67-45 victory against Little Rock (2-7) here Saturday afternoon.
The victory marks back-to-back games in which the Lady Bears have held their opponents to 50 points or less. Under head coach Beth Cunningham, Missouri State is now 26-0 when it holds its opponents under the 60-point mark.
Little Rock got the game started with four consecutive points but the Lady Bears, who were coming off a week-long break, quickly settled in and went on a 13-2 run to grab the lead and extend it to seven points after a quarter. Missouri State would not give the lead back to the Trojans for the remainder of the game.
With the Lady Bear lead hovering around the five-point mark early in the second quarter, Missouri State found another surge courtesy of a Kyrah Daniels triple and two Sarah Linthacum buckets to push the lead to double figures, 26-15, at the 4:36 mark. Daniels found her stroke in the second quarter, finding the bottom of the basket from beyond the arc two more times to give MoState a 33-21 lead heading into the intermission. Daniels finished the first half with a game-high 11 points, including nine in the second quarter on 3-for-5 from distance.
Daniels picked up right where she left off to begin the third quarter, knocking down her fourth trey of the afternoon. Then, Paige Rocca took over and scored the Lady Bears’ next seven points to push the lead to a 16-point margin. However, a quick seven-point run by the Trojans cut the MoState lead back to single-digit points, where it would hover for the remainder of the third period.
Holding onto a 10-point lead as the game entered the fourth quarter, Missouri State locked it down on the defensive end of the floor and held the Trojans to just five points. The Lady Bears scored the first 12 points of the final period to seemingly put the game out of reach with a 22-point advantage. Following a Little Rock basket, Rocca converted an and-1 opportunity and Lainie Douglas connected on a layup to push the lead to a game-high 25 points with 3:35 remaining. Little Rock shot just 17 percent (2-12) in the fourth quarter, as Missouri State forced six turnovers and collected four steals en route to a 22-point home victory.
Rocca led the way for MoState with 15 points (4-5 FG, 2-2 3FG, 5-5 FT), while Daniels and Linthacum poured in 14 points each. Lacy Stokes once again stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points and team highs in rebounds (8), assists (5) and steals (5) to round out MSU’s double-figure scorers.
As a team, Missouri State shot 42 percent (22-52) from the field, 47 percent (8-17) from three and 83 percent (15-18) from the free throw line. The Lady Bears forced 23 turnovers and tallied 14 steals, while winning the battle on the boards, 37-23. Missouri State also allowed Little Rock to shoot just four free throws in the contest and held the Trojans to 15 percent (2-13) from three-point range.
The Lady Bears have a quick turnaround as they are on the road at Southeast Missouri State on Monday, December 16. Tipoff is set for 11:00 a.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.
