Missouri State Lady Bears season ends with WBIT loss to Minnesota
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Missouri State University/KY3) - Missouri State women’s basketball’s (26-9) comeback effort fell short as the Lady Bears’ season came to an end after falling 78-71 to Minnesota (22-11) Sunday afternoon at Great Southern Bank Arena.
Missouri State’s 26 wins this season are tied for the fourth-most victories in a single season and are the most wins since 2020. The Lady Bears’ 15 victories at home are also the most since the 2019-20 season.
Lacy Stokes finishes the season with 504 points, which is No. 20 on MoState’s single-season scoring list, and her 90 steals are tied for eighth in a single-season in program history. Paige Rocca ended her career with 107 victories, which is the third-most in program history.
As was the theme all season, the Lady Bears battled to the very end after trailing by as many as 17 points in the contest.
Entering the fourth quarter down 13 points, Missouri State gave up the first basket of the period as the Lady Bears then trailed by 15 points. That’s when the Lady Bears locked in and went to work on both ends of the floor. Three consecutive layups from Sarah Linthacum and Kaemyn Bekemeier cut the MoState deficit to single digits before another 7-2 surge made it a six-point game with 2:46 remaining. From there, a flurry of triples made things interesting as Minnesota struck first from beyond the arc to stretch the Golder Gopher lead back out to nine points. Then, the standout sophomores from Missouri State stepped up and hit huge three-pointers, the first coming from Bekemier with 1:12 on the clock before Kyrah Daniels made it a three-point ballgame with 0:29 ticks left.
It was just a little too late for the Lady Bears as they were forced to foul down the stretch, and Minnesota answered the challenge, knocking down five free throws in the final 0:26 to end Missouri State’s season.
Back at the beginning of the game, it took a while for the Lady Bears to settle in on both sides of the ball. MoState got the first basket of the game on a Rocca jumper, but that ended up being its only lead of the game. Meanwhile, the Golden Gophers got off to a quick start, shooting 55 percent (11-20) from the field in the first quarter to jump out to a 27-12 lead after a quarter.
The second period consisted mostly of runs in an even quarter points-wise for the two squads. Minnesota got a bucket to start the second, but Missouri State then reeled off eight straight points to cut the deficit to single digits. The Lady Bears and Golden Gophers traded five-point surges, before Minnesota matched MoState’s previous 8-0 run. A Daniels jumper served as the final points of the half as the Lady Bears trailed 42-27 at the break.
MoState’s best shooting quarter of the day came in the third as the Lady Bears shot 67 percent (10-15) from the field and 75 percent (3-4) from three. Unfortunately, Minnesota was able to keep pace and never let the Lady Bears go on a sustained run to really chip away at the lead. Daniels and Linthacum put together five quick points near the six-minute mark to pull MoState within seven points, but the Golden Gophers kept responding as the Lady Bears trailed 64-51 heading into the final period.
The defeat marked Missouri State’s only loss this season when scoring 70 or more points (20-1).
The Lady Bears were led by Bekemeier with 18 points off the bench, followed by fellow sophomore Daniels with 15 points and seven rebounds. Seniors Linthacum and Stokes were the final two Lady Bears in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
As a team, Missouri State shot 48 percent (28-58) from the field, 37 percent (7-19) from three and 62 percent (8-13) from the free throw line. The Lady Bears trailed in a couple of key areas including rebounds (27-43), paint points (22-28) and bench points (20-26).
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