On a night that saw Missouri State honor its two Final Four teams from 1992 and 2001, the Saint Louis Billikens did most of the celebrating, coming away with a decisive 69-51 victory over the Lady Bears to halt a three-game losing streak in women’s college basketball action Friday (Dec. 7) evening in Springfield.
The Billikens dominated the post throughout, shooting a season-high .533 from the field, while outrebounding MSU by a 41-29 margin and outscoring the Lady Bears 42-20 in the paint to improve to 3-6 on the season.
Sophomore guard Theresa Lisch led the way for the Billikens with a 17-point, nine-rebound effort in her first game of season after missing SLU’s first eight games due to injury. Sophomore center Amanda Kemezys also posted a strong performance, totaling 16 points to go along with six rebounds.
Missouri State started the contest on the right foot, grabbing an early seven-point lead after Tiffany Coppage nailed a three-pointer at the 9:45 mark. Maggie Dwyer scored seven of her 12 first-half points in the first eight minutes of the game, as the Lady Bears jumped out to an 18-11 advantage.
But MSU could not take advantage of SLU’s 16 turnovers in the opening stanza and left the door open wide enough for the visitors to climb back into the game. The Billikens outscored the Lady Bears 19-7 over a nine-minute stretch and grabbed a 30-27 halftime lead on the strength of a 26-16 advantage in points scored in the paint. Kemezys and Maggie Hennegan combined to go 8-of-11 from the floor in the half and Saint Louis converted 13-of-19 field-goal attempts as a team.
The Billikens extended their advantage early in the second half by outscoring MSU 19-8 over the first 10 minutes of the period to build a 14-point cushion. MSU never really got its offense in gear after the break, shooting just .273 from the floor after intermission in falling to 1-7 on the year.
The Lady Bears were able to cut the deficit to eight points on a pair of free throws from Dwyer with just over eight minutes remaining, but the Billikens got a three-pointer from the left corner from Lisch and never looked back. Lisch tallied 15 points in the second half alone, including 12 in the final 6:54. Kemezys matched her first-half performance with eight points to finish with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
Dwyer finished with a game-high 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and Roxy Stiles turned in a 10-point night to lead the Lady Bears, who shot just .328 (20-of-61) from the field and made only 9-of-33 field-goal attempts in the second half.
Missouri State will travel to Tulsa next Saturday for a 7:05 p.m. contest against Oral Roberts.
