SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball (12-4, 6-1 MVC) moved to 10-0 at home this season with an 89-71 victory over Indiana State (6-11, 2-5) here Sunday afternoon at Great Southern Bank Arena. The victory also extended MSU’s home win streak to 12 games, which is tied for the 10th longest home win streak in program history.
The third quarter proved to be the turning point for the Lady Bears after Missouri State went into halftime leading by just two points. After surrendering the lead to Indiana State and going down by four points near the midway mark of the third period, Missouri State caught fire offensively and locked it down on the defensive end of the floor. Following an Indya Green three-pointer cut the deficit to one point, MSU called a timeout and immediately got four consecutive stops on defense to set the tone for the remainder of the quarter.
From there, MSU went on an 18-5 surge over the final 5:07, connecting on 10 consecutive field goal attempts over an eight-minute span, to take a nine-point lead into the final period. The run was sparked by back-to-back triples courtesy of Indya Green and Paige Rocca as the Lady Bears took control of the game.
Missouri State didn’t take its foot off the gas, starting the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run to push the lead to 22 points. A Kennedy Taylor layup and two Rocca free throws eventually pushed the lead to a game-high 23 points at the 4:37 mark as the Lady Bears went on to win by a comfortable 18-point margin.
The first half saw an entirely different game with Indiana State holding the early advantage. In a back-and-forth first period, the Sycamores knocked down a couple more shots from behind the arc to lead by one point after 10 minutes in Springfield.
After early foul trouble for the MSU guards, freshmen Natasha Barnes and Kaemyn Bekemeier provided valuable minutes in the second quarter in a close contest. After the Sycamores pushed the lead to six, Barnes knocked down a triple to make it a one possession game. From there, Bekemeier went to work by scoring seven of MSU’s last 11 points in the half, which included two huge and-1 opportunities, to help propel the Lady Bears to a two-point lead at the break.
Missouri State had five players score in double figures, led by Jade Masogayo with 15 points and a game-high four blocks. Lacy Stokes followed with 14 points (5-7 FG) and a game-high six assists, while Kyrah Daniels recorded her fifth consecutive double-figure scoring performance with 13 on the afternoon. Bekemeier surpassed her career high yet again with 12 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field. Finally, Kennedy Taylor secured her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
As a unit, the Lady Bears shot 61 percent (34-56) from the field, 44 percent (7-16) and 78 percent (14-18) from the free throw line on the afternoon. Missouri State racked up 19 assists, 10 steals and nine blocks in the victory.
Missouri State will kick off a three-game road swing on Friday, Jan. 26 at Belmont. Tipoff in Nashville is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will stream on ESPN+.
