Behind Maggie Dwyer’s career-high 29 points and the three-point shooting of Melissa Busby, the Missouri State Lady Bears outlasted Canisius Friday (Dec. 21) evening, 97-89, in women’s college basketball at Hammons Student Center. MSU shot a season-high 50 percent from the floor, including 15-of-31 from three point range, in its best offensive showing since the 2002-03 season.
Dwyer established a new career scoring high for the third consecutive game, pouring home 17 in the second half to help the Lady Bears turn around a one-point halftime deficit and pick up their second win of the season. Busby scored 18 in the opening stanza and drained seven three-pointers in all to total 23 points, just one shy of her career-best scoring night.
Missouri State took control of the game for good when Dwyer’s three-point play with 16:18 left in the game turned a 54-52 Lady Bear lead into a five-point advantage and sparked a 29-14 run that saw MSU stretch its lead to 17 points with just over seven minutes to play.
Busby kicked off an 8-0 run with her seventh three of the game with 10:16 left on the clock. Jacque Griggs scored on the Lady Bears’ next possession, and Marisha Brown’s trey moments later made it a 76-63 ballgame. After that, the Golden Griffins cut the deficit to single digits just once before Amanda Cavo’s seventh three of the night at the horn provided the final scoring margin.
Dwyer accounted for 12 points during the decisive Missouri State scoring spurt and finished the night 10-of-21 from the floor. Busby’s seven triples ranks sixth all-time at Missouri State, matching the single-game performances of four other Lady Bears.
The Lady Bears came out firing in the first half, building a 21-5 lead behind Busby’s hot hand, as the sophomore guard knocked down five three-pointers in the first seven minutes of the ballgame. She connected on her first try from beyond the arc at the 17:18 mark, then went on to hit four more over the next three and a half minutes to give the Lady Bears an early 16-point lead with 13:54 to go in the period.
But Canisius ran off the next 15 points unanswered to close the gap to one point on Cavo’s trey with just under 10 minutes to go.
Dwyer scored nine of the Lady Bears’ next 13 points to help MSU extend its advantage back to eight points at the 6:04 mark. Despite shooting .500 (10-of-20) for the half from three-point range, the Lady Bears found themselves down 44-43 at the break, as the Golden Griffins answered with an 18-9 spurt to close the half, taking their first lead of the game on Brittan Russell’s three-pointer at the buzzer.
Despite the loss Canisius (4-7) turned in a strong offensive performance, hitting .438 from the field and 12-of-28 (.429) three-point tries. Cavo and Russell each turned in career scoring nights, finishing with 28 and 25 points, respectively. Springfield native Laura Buetow and Ellie Radke also finished in double figures for Canisius with 10 points apiece.
Senior guard Tahnee Balerio contributed her best all-around game of the season with a 17-point, 10-assist effort, and Brown gave the Lady Bears a big lift off the bench with a 14-point night.
The Lady Bears (2-8) will be back in action on Dec. 29 when they travel to Bowling Green, Ky., for their final non-conference matchup of the season against Western Kentucky at 4 p.m.
