CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Missouri State women’s basketball (7-3) captured its 1,000th program victory with a 77-49 win at SEMO (1-7) here on Monday afternoon. The Lady Bears become one of just 33 teams in NCAA Division I with at least 1,000 wins as a program.
The win also marked the 50th win for head coach Beth Cunningham at the helm of the Lady Bears.
It was all Missouri State in this one as the Lady Bears led wire-to-wire. MoState came out scorching hot from the jump, starting the game a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from long range with triples courtesy of Kiley Bess, Kyrah Daniels and Paige Rocca. SEMO eventually settled in offensively, but the Lady Bears held a five-point, 14-9, advantage after one following a Cady Pauley fastbreak layup to end the quarter.
MoState was able to extend its lead in the second quarter after outscoring the Redhawks 17-11 in the period. The Lady Bears did most of their damage in the second frame at the charity stripe, going a perfect 10-for-10 at the line. Kaemyn Bekemeier was the hot hand for Missouri State in the second as she poured in nine points, grabbed three rebounds and tallied two steals. With the lead at 14 points, SEMO connected on a buzzer-beater to make it a 31-20 game at the half in favor of the visiting Lady Bears.
Missouri State held SEMO to 25 percent (8-23) from the field and 18 percent (2-11) from three in the first half and scored 17 points off nine Redhawk turnovers.
Sarah Linthacum and Bess combined for the first three buckets coming out of the halftime break to immediately extend the MoState lead to 17 points. The Lady Bear lead would reach 19 points on multiple occasions in the third, but the Redhawks did have a short run in them as they reeled off a 6-0 surge late in the third to pull back within 13. However, Missouri State quickly answered with layups from Pauley, Linthacum and Lacy Stokes to carry a 19-point, 49-30, lead into the final period.
The Lady Bears had their best shooting quarter of the game in the fourth, firing at a .714 clip (10-14) from the field as they tied their highest-scoring quarter of the season with 28 points. The lead hovered around 15 points until Missouri State delivered the final dagger with a 20-3 run over a four-minute span to stretch the lead to its largest of the game at 32 points with 1:21 remaining. MoState improved to 5-0 when playing in the state of Missouri this season with the 28-point victory.
Pauley led the way for Missouri State with a career-high 17 points (7-9 FG), while Bekemeier recorded her first-career double-double with career highs in both points (16) and rebounds (11). Daniels was the final Lady Bear in double figures with 13 points in addition to five rebounds and three assists.
As a team, the Lady Bears held SEMO to 29 percent (18-63) from the field and 17 percent (4-23) from three as it marked the third consecutive game in which Missouri State has held its opponent to 50 points or less. MoState got its best performance of the season from its bench with 39 points, while also dominating the paint, 36-20, and owning a +20 rebounding margin (40-20).
Missouri State will close out its non-conference slate on Friday, December 20 when the Lady Bears welcome Southern Miss to Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield. Tipoff is set for 12:00 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.
