CHICAGO – Missouri State women’s basketball (8-4, 0-1 MVC) dropped its Missouri Valley Conference opener 69-62 on the road at UIC (4-6, 1-0 MVC) here Sunday afternoon.
UIC got off to a quick start in this one, taking an early 5-0 lead before Lacy Stokes connected on Missouri State’s first basket of the game at the 8:09 mark. Stokes, Paige Rocca and Kyrah Daniels made up all of MoState’s offense in the first quarter as the Lady Bears were able to stay within striking distance but could never grab the lead from the Flames. Stokes, who had eight first-quarter points, connected on a layup with under a minute remaining to pull MSU within four points, 18-14, after one.
With the second quarter underway, Stokes maintained the hot hand as she scored the first four points of the period, including a triple to tie the game at 18-18 with 7:59 left in the first half. Despite tying the game, the trend from the first quarter continued as Missouri State wasn’t quite able to snag the lead in the first half but kept the UIC advantage to just one or two possessions. Just under the three-minute mark, Kiley Bess and Tyra Robinson went on a 6-2 surge to pull MSU within a point, but UIC ended the half with back-to-back buckets and MSU trailed 35-30 at the intermission.
Out of the break, the Lady Bears struck first but UIC drained back-to-back triples to make it a nine-point game near the eight-minute mark of the third. Rocca later sparked a 6-0 Missouri State run to once again cut the deficit to a single possession. Following a Flames triple, Stokes went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe before Kaemyn Bekemeier snapped the net on a trey to make it a two-point ballgame with 3:51 remaining in the third frame. Bekemeier’s three-pointer ended up being the final field goal of the quarter for the Lady Bears as three made free throws made up the rest of the offense for MSU down the stretch.
Trailing 52-47 to begin the final quarter, the Lady Bears surrendered 10 points to open the period as UIC extended its lead to a game-high 15 points with 7:01 left on the clock. Daniels finally put an end to the drought for Missouri State with a bucket at 6:08, which sparked an 8-0 run that included a Sarah Linthacum and-1 and Daniels’ first triple of the afternoon to cut the deficit down to seven points. Unfortunately, the comeback effort fell short as UIC hit its free throws down the stretch and Missouri State dropped its MVC opener, 69-62, on the road.
Despite having the advantage on the boards (37-33), the Lady Bears fell short in a couple of key areas including points in the paint (26-36) and bench points (7-20). Missouri State shot 38 percent (21-55) from the field, 29 percent from three (4-14) and 76 percent from the line (16-21).
Stokes led all scorers with 21 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and dished out seven assists, while Daniels poured in 17 points. Bess and Linthacum each had a team-high seven rebounds.
Missouri State will open a three-game home stand on Thursday, Jan. 2 as the Lady Bears welcome Belmont to Springfield. Tipoff against the Bruins is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN+.
