SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball (15-4, 7-1 MVC) led wire-to-wire in a dominant 81-45 victory over Northern Iowa (10-10, 5-4 MVC) here on Sunday afternoon at Great Southern Bank Arena.
Coming off a grueling overtime victory against Drake on Friday night, the Lady Bears didn’t skip a beat coming into Sunday’s matchup with the Panthers. Missouri State jumped out to a quick 13-4 lead more than halfway through the first quarter, a run that featured three triples between Kaemyn Bekemeier and Kyrah Daniels. With the clock nearing the two-minute mark and the Lady Bear lead at six points, freshman Lainie Douglas sparked another MoState surge, an 8-3 run to end the quarter, to give the home team a 25-14 advantage after one.
The Lady Bears came out firing on all cylinders to start the second quarter, scoring the first 10 points of the period to extend the lead to 21 points in just over three minutes. The flurry of points featured baskets from Daniels, Sarah Linthacum and Kiley Bess. UNI found a little bit of an offensive rhythm, knocking down three triples over the next four minutes and change to cut the Lady Bear lead to 13. However, MoState went right back to work, ending the second period on a 7-2 run that was capped by a Bekemeier three and a huge defensive stop on the Panthers’ final possession of the half.
Missouri State carried a 48-30 lead into the intermission as the Lady Bears improved to 14-1 on the season when leading at halftime. The Lady Bears shot an efficient 74 percent (20-27) from the field in the first half, while limiting UNI to 31 percent (11-35).
The story of the second half for Missouri State was its suffocating defensive effort. The Lady Bears held the Panthers to 26 percent (7-27) from the field in the second half and allowed just eight and seven points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
With the lead hovering around the 20-point mark around for most of the third period, the Lady Bears reeled off a 9-0 run to end the quarter. Douglas sparked the run with back-to-back layups before Bekemeier connected on a triple and Paige Rocca capped it with a layup to give MoState a 65-38 lead after three in Springfield.
Rocca, an Iowa native, kept the hot hand as the fourth quarter began, knocking down a jumper and following with a triple to open the period. Sarah Linthacum then added a layup to cap the spurt as Missouri State pushed the lead out to 34 points. The Lady Bears locked in defensively down the stretch even with the lead firmly in hand, as UNI connected on just three field goals in the quarter. The Lady Bears earned a 36-point, 81-45, victory to remain undefeated at home (9-0).
Bekemeier led the way for the Lady Bears with a game-high 17 points on Republic, Mo. Day inside Great Southern Bank Arena. Linthacum followed with 16 points and 13 rebounds to mark her second career double-double and tie her career high on the glass. Daniels and Douglas each poured in 13 points, while Daniels dished out a game-high five assists. All nine Lady Bears to touch the floor scored on the afternoon.
As a team, Missouri State held the Panthers to their lowest point total of the season at 45 points. The Lady Bears dominated in the paint, 42-16, and in bench scoring, 34-12. For the game, Missouri State shot 57 percent (35-61) from the field, 50 percent (8-16) from three and 75 percent (3-4) from the line. The Lady Bears are now 33-0 under Beth Cunningham when holding opponents under the 60-point mark.
