CARBONDALE, Ill. – Missouri State women’s basketball (19-5, 11-2 MVC) cruised to a 35-point, 83-48, victory on the road at Southern Illinois (4-18, 2-11 MVC).
The victory marked a milestone for fifth-year senior Paige Rocca as she collected her 100th career win in a Lady Bear uniform. She becomes just the sixth Lady Bear in program history with at least 100 winning games played on her resume.
It was all Lady Bears from the jump in this one on the road in Carbondale. After the lead swapped four times in the first 5:52 of the game, back-to-back Kyrah Daniels triples gave the Lady Bears a six-point lead and they never looked back. With the lead at four points, a Lainie Douglas layup was the spark for a 10-2 run over the final 2:36 to make it a 12-point game after a quarter.
Kaemyn Bekemeier knocked down a triple to start the scoring in the second half. A couple of minutes later, Bess and Sarah Linthacum had connected on three consecutive layups to push the lead out to 19 points. The lead then held steady as Daniels and Paige Rocca hit triples, before the Lady Bears went on another big run beginning at 3:09. Douglas was the sparkplug once again, this time with a jumper in the paint, as MoState reeled off eight straight points. The run was capped on a Zoe Stewart bucket as the Lady Bears eventually led 51-27 at the half.
Daniels had 16 first-half points while Bess tied her career high in assists with five in the first 20 minutes. The Lady Bears also turned the ball over just three times in the first half.
Coming out of the intermission, the Lady Bears didn’t take their foot off the gas as they reeled off 10 straight points to begin the third and force a Southern Illinois timeout. SIU didn’t score its first points of the third until the 5:42, but Missouri State answered immediately with an even bigger run of 13 points.
Missouri State started the fourth quarter with a 41-point lead, which the Lady Bears extended back to a game-high 43 points on the first basket of the final period. From there, MoState kept things steady as the Lady Bears cruised to an 83-48 victory on the road.
Daniels led the way with 23 points and a career-high five three-pointers. Douglas posted 12 points, followed by Stokes with 11 points and six assists (zero turnovers). Bekemeier rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points and a team-high five rebounds. Bess also dished out a career-high six assists against the Salukis.
As a team, Missouri State tied its season high with 27 assists and racked up 24 points off 21 Saluki turnovers. MoState shot 49 percent (33-67) from the field, 50 percent (10-20) from three and 64 percent (7-11) from the line.
The Lady Bears return home to face Valparaiso on Sunday, February 16. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+. There are multiple ticket specials for Sunday’s game including: $5 tickets for all active and retired military and first responders, $5 tickets in all non-assessed sections and free admission for kids 12 years and under.
