Missouri State shot 62.5 percent in the second half and a season-high 57.8 percent in the game Saturday afternoon for a 74-45 victory and season sweep of Wichita State at JQH Arena.
The Lady Bears (19-9, 12-4 Missouri Valley Conference) out-scored the Shockers (7-20, 4-12) by a 46-22 margin over the game’s final 17 minutes, picking off a season-high 16 steals and turning 20 WSU turnovers in 28 points in the contest.
The Shockers made their first three shots of the game before Tyonna Snow nabbed one of her seven steals and scored to give MSU the lead for good at 9-8 with 2:33 to play in the first quarter.
Missouri State’s three seniors combined for an 11-0 run in the second quarter to help the Lady Bears to a 28-17 halftime advantage before the Shockers opened the second half on a 6-0 run to close to 28-23.
It was all Missouri State after that, as the Lady Bears closed the third quarter on a 22-5 run, shooting 8-for-13 in the period and turning six steals into 13 points. MSU kept the lead at 19 or better for the rest of the game, leading by as many as 30 points.
MSU finished the game 26-for-45 overall and 20-for-29 from inside the arc while holding the Shockers to 17-for-50 shooting. The Lady Bears owned a 33-25 rebounding edge and dished out 15 assists.
Kenzie Williams led all scorers with 18 points, passing Roshonda Reed for eighth in school history in career scoring with a first-quarter trey, and hit two free throws to join the career top 10 in that category as well. She added a steal to become the third Lady Bear with at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals and 50 blocks in a career, joining Snow and Casey Garrison on that list.
Snow, meanwhile, scored 16 points to become the 10th MSU player to eclipse the 1,500 mark, adding a career-high seven assists without a turnover.
Senior Hillary Chvatal led MSU with nine rebounds, and Lexi Hughes connected on all three of her 3-point attempts.
The Lady Bears close the regular season next week with home games against Indiana State on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Illinois State on Saturday at 2 p.m.
