EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Missouri State women’s basketball (25-8) fell 76-67 to Belmont in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament here Saturday afternoon.
The second half was the difference in this one as Belmont outscored Missouri State 35-25 over the final 20 minutes. Missouri State led by one-point at the intermission, but the Bruins came out firing on all cylinders in the third quarter. Belmont scored the first 12 points of the third which spanned 6:20 to put the Bruins up 11 points. MoState finally scored its first points of the half at the 3:40 mark on a Sarah Linthacum jumper, putting an end to its long scoring drought.
Missouri State wasn’t going down without a fight though as Paige Rocca ended the third quarter with a huge triple to make it a six-point game heading into the final period.
Lacy Stokes took over in the fourth quarter, single-handedly cutting the MoState lead to two points quickly after four points to open the period. At the 4:27 mark, Stokes drove to the basket and was fouled, giving her the opportunity for a three-point play. Unfortunately, this seemed to be another turning point in the wrong direction for the Lady Bears. Down three points, Missouri State missed five free throws in a span of 0:27 and Belmont took advantage. Over the final 2:36 of the game, the Bruins outscored the Lady Bears 12-6 as MoState was forced to foul down the stretch, ending the Lady Bears’ run in the tournament semifinals by a score of 76-67.
The first half saw an extremely close game with the first real run coming from Missouri State in the first quarter. Kyrah Daniels connected on a jumper to tie the game with 6:15 on the clock, which sparked a 7-0 run to put the Lady Bears up five points. The squads traded baskets for the rest of the period with MoState leading by two after the first 10 minutes.
Belmont took the lead back early in the second quarter, but the Lady Bears stayed within striking distance. MoState took a timeout after back-to-back triples gave the Bruins a six-point advantage. Kaemyn Bekemeier answered with a triple of her own, and after Belmont took the largest lead of the first half for either team at seven points, the Lady Bears made their run.
Linthacum got a layup to fall followed by buckets from Kyrah Daniels and Bekemeier, and a free throw from Lainie Douglas to flip the lead back to tie the game at 40-40. Free throws closed out the remainder of the first half as Stokes made two at the stripe after being fouled with under a second remaining to give MoState a 42-41 lead at the intermission.
Stokes led the way with 21 points, her 10th consecutive double-figure scoring performance. Daniels followed with 14 points. Bekemeier added 11 points and Linthacum was the final Lady Bear in double figures with 10 points and six rebounds.
As a team, the Lady Bears shot 37 percent (22-59) from the field, 31 percent (5-16) from three and 69 percent (18-26) from the charity stripe.
The Lady Bears will now await possible postseason opportunities.
