The Missouri State Lady Bears have won their ninth game in a row, leading from start to finish in an 82-58 victory over Indiana State Sunday afternoon at JQH Arena.
The 18th ranked Lady Bears took control early, jumping out to an 18-4 lead in the first quarter and going into the locker room at the half up 39-23.
Alexa Willard hit a three pointer just over a minute into the second half, and Missouri State continued to dominate, going up 66-38 at the end of the third period.
Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton emptied her bench in the fourth quarter, with Bri Ellis getting into the act with a three pointer late in the contest.
Jasmine Franklin led Missouri State (23-3, 13-1) with 17 points, while Willard finished with 15 and junior Abby Hipp added 12.
Sophomore Sydney Manning finished with a career high ten rebounds as the Lady Bears won the battle of the boards 42-24.
Caitlin Anderson scored 16 points to pace Indiana State (4-23, 2-13), with Marie Hunter adding 15.
Coach Mox talked about her team’s stepped-up play Sunday in her postgame press conference:
The Lady Bears got to the free throw line consistently Sunday, hitting 28 of 31 attempts (90%).
MSU out-rebounded the Sycamores 42-24.
The Lady Bears hit the road for their next two games, starting with a 7:30 p.m. contest Thursday night at Illinois State.
Missouri State will be back home Thursday, March 5th for a 7:00 p.m. game against Valparaiso.
Game Notes:
Willard now has 1,463 career points, moving into 14th place on the Lady Bears all-time scoring list. She passed Christiana Shorter on Sunday and is just six points behind Lisa Davies for 13th place.
MSU improves to 13-0 this season at JQH Arena, the longest winning streak since moving into the facility in 2008.
The Lady Bears are 47-6 overall since December 20th, 2018, ranking fifth nationally in total wins since that date.
Missouri State has won 14 straight games in the series against Indiana State and is 33-6 against the Sycamores in Springfield.
Sunday’s announced attendance at JQH Arena was 2,668.