SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball (14-4, 6-1 MVC) earned a hard-fought, 72-68, overtime victory over Drake (11-8, 5-3 MVC) here Friday night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
Paige Rocca, the Iowa native, played the role of hero with a play that etched her name among the Lady Bear greats in the longtime rivalry with Drake. With 0.9 seconds left on the clock and Missouri State down by three, Rocca caught the inbounds pass, set her feet and launched from beyond the arc, sending the game to overtime as the home fans roared.
With the arena buzzing, the Lady Bears capitalized on the momentum, scoring the first six points of overtime courtesy of Sarah Linthacum and Lacy Stokes to take a 67-61 lead. With the lead still at six at the halfway point of the overtime period, Drake made its final push as Katie Dinnebier (28 points) hit a three and Courtney Becker connected on a couple of free throws to make it a one-point game in favor of MoState with 0:59 left.
On the very next possession, Stokes had a special moment of her own as she drove to the basket and drew the foul as the shot fell through the net. The senior polished off the three-point play at the charity stripe to give Missouri State the coveted four-point lead with 0:28 left to play. Drake had a couple of chances to get back in it, but with 0:03 left freshman Lainie Douglas officially sealed the win for the Lady Bears with a huge defensive rebound. The Lady Bears remained undefeated at home and snapped a four-game losing streak against the Bulldogs with the 72-68 win.
Drake controlled the game for the majority of the first half, but Missouri State always stayed within striking distance as the lead never reached double figures. After the Bulldogs pushed the lead to eight points after a quarter, the Lady Bears fought back to cut their deficit to just four points, 33-29, at the half.
Out of the intermission, Missouri State made its move. Down seven with 8:42 on the clock, the Lady Bears reeled off a 9-0 run sparked by a Rocca and-1 to take over the lead, 40-38, at the 4:13 mark on a Kyrah Daniels jumper. After swapping points, Douglas connected on back-to-back layups and Kaemyn Bekemeier knocked down a short jumper to put MoState in front by seven with less than 30 seconds remaining in the third.
With Missouri State leading by six to start the fourth, Drake chipped away at the lead before knocking down three consecutive three-point baskets to swing the lead back to the Bulldogs, 57-51, with 3:24 on the clock. With under a minute remaining and still down six, Daniels hit her second triple of the night and Bekemeier hit two free throws to make it a one-point game. Forced to foul on the other end, Drake hit its two free throws to once again push the lead to three in favor of the Bulldogs. After one failed attempt to get a shot off, the Lady Bears called timeout with just 0.9 seconds on the clock. When it appeared to be over for Missouri State, Rocca stepped up and played the role of hero with her three-point basket.
Six different Lady Bears scored in double figures on the night, led by Stokes with 15 points and a team-high four steals. Bekemeier followed with 14 points and seven rebounds. Daniels scored 12 points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, while Rocca added 11 points. The two forwards, Linthacum and Douglas, each poured in 10 points on the night.
As a team, the Lady Bears won the battle in some key areas, including bench points (24-4), points in the paint (36-34) and points off turnovers (21-19). For the game, Missouri State shot 38 percent (25-66) from the field, 21 percent (3-14) from three and 66 percent (19-29) from the line. The Lady Bear defense forced 25 Bulldog turnovers and blocked four shots.
Missouri State will be back at home on Sunday, January 26 as the Lady Bears host Northern Iowa. Tipoff at Great Southern Bank Arena is set for 2:00 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.
