SPRINGFIELD - Missouri State's
Kenzie Williams scored 29 points and made a career-high 10 field goals Sunday afternoon to lead the Lady Bears to a 68-58 victory over IUPUI at JQH Arena.
The Lady Bears (2-7) swiped a season-high 14 steals and turned 23 IUPUI (3-7) turnovers into 20 points, went 20-for-24 at the foul line, and converted 17 offensive rebounds into 17 points in a solid all-around effort.
The first half was tied eight times and the statistics were nearly identical, with the Lady Bears taking, and making, one more shot than the Jaguars, with the difference being a Williams 3-pointer with 1:18 on the clock for the 32-29 halftime lead.
Williams scored 17 first-half points, including four baskets in less than two minutes early on for a 10-8 lead. In fact, Williams was the only Lady Bear to score for nearly 10 minutes, tallying 12 points until
Aubrey Buckley's two free throws ended the streak and put MSU ahead 16-14 with 8:47 to play.
Tyonna Snow, who grabbed a steal within 61 seconds of her season debut and four in the game, hit a 3-pointer for a 25-20 advantage and 4:03 remaining, but a 7-0 IUPUI run put the visitors ahead 27-25 with 2:39 to play before MSU closed with a 7-2 spurt.
Missouri State trailed for only 12 seconds in the second half, but led by four points or fewer for much of the time until a late run. Williams knocked down a trey cap a 7-0 run with a 41-34 lead at the 13:29 mark, but the Lady Bears were unable to extend the lead as the Jaguars came back to eventual gain a 48-47 advantage with 6:31 to play.
Williams countered 12 seconds later by burying a 3-pointer to hand MSU the lead for good, and a pair of free throws by
NiJay Gaines made it 53-48 with 5:20 to play.
After the Jaguars closed to 55-52 with 4:06 on the clock, the Lady Bears ripped off a 9-0 run over the next two minutes, with Snow scoring five points to build a 64-52 lead. MSU led by at least seven points for the final 1:52.
Snow scored 17 points for MSU and went 8-for-10 at the foul line, while Gaines and
Hillary Chvatal grabbed eight rebounds each as MSU held a 21-13 advantage in the second half for a 32-29 margin for the game.
The Lady Bears return to action Friday at 7 p.m. against Arkansas State (3-3) at JQH Arena.
