SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State women’s basketball (9-4, 1-1 MVC) secured its first conference win of the season with a 57-55 victory over Belmont (6-7, 1-1 MVC) here Thursday night at Great Southern Bank Arena.
The game came down to the wire in a physical Missouri Valley Conference matchup between the Lady Bears and Bruins. With the score knotted at 42-42 heading into the final period, MoState made the first big push with a Lacy Stokes triple followed by a Sarah Linthacum layup to give the Lady Bears a five-point advantage at the 6:56 mark. Belmont stayed within striking distance and eventually back-to-back layups gave the Bruins just their second lead of the night by one point with 1:46 remaining. Missouri State didn’t flinch though, as Linthacum scored the next four points and flipped the lead back to the home team and extended it to three points. Despite missing on multiple opportunities to put the game away at the free throw line, the Lady Bears managed to hang on down the stretch to secure the 57-55 victory.
It was a close game all night with neither team ever stretching the lead to double figures. The first quarter mostly consisted of two big runs with Missouri State coming out firing on all cylinders and scoring the first six points of the game. At 1:43 in the first period, Belmont put together a 6-0 surge to tie the game at 11-11. However, Stokes broke the stalemate with a couple of free throws to give MSU a 13-11 lead after the first 10 minutes.
As was the theme of the first half, MoState put together a quick 7-1 run to open the second and push the lead to a game-high eight points. Belmont once again answered and put together eight consecutive points to tie the ballgame at 20-20 with 4:34 remaining in the half. From there, the squads traded baskets, but MSU poured in the final points of the quarter courtesy of a Linthacum jumper to put the Lady Bears up 28-25 at the intermission.
Belmont outscored the Lady Bears by three in the third period after their best shooting quarter of the game at 47 percent (7-15) from the field. A Bruin triple at 8:17 gave Belmont its first lead of the game, but MoState didn’t let them keep any momentum for long as Stokes sparked a quick 5-0 spurt. From that point, the third quarter saw two ties and neither team led by more than one possession as the game headed to the decisive fourth quarter.
Linthacum led the way for Missouri State offensively with 17 points (7-11 FG) in addition to eight boards and two assists. Paige Rocca poured in 11 points, followed by Stokes with 10 points as the final Lady Bear in double figures. Kiley Bess led the game with a career-high 12 rebounds.
As a team, the Lady Bears shot 36 percent (21-59) from the field, 31 percent (4-13) from three and 55 percent (11-20) from the stripe. MoState held Belmont to its second-lowest scoring performance to this point in the season, as the Bruins were held to 35 percent (21-60) from the field and 20 percent (3-15) from long range. The Lady Bears are now 29-0 under Beth Cunningham when opponents are held under the 60-point mark.
Missouri State continues conference action as the Lady Bears welcome Murray State to Great Southern Bank Arena on Saturday, January 4. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
