Starting Five - Storylines for the Oklahoma Game
1) Missouri State is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 1997 after victories against No. 23 Minnesota, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Boise State, and hits the road again for Thursday's Preseason WNIT semifinal matchup at Oklahoma. This is MSU's fifth Preseason WNIT appearance (1994, 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2019), and the Lady Bears own a 7-4 record in the event, including 2-0 on the road. Former MSU player and assistant Jackie Stiles is in her first season as an assistant with the Sooners.
2) Missouri State brings a school-record 12-game road win streak to Oklahoma, which ties Princeton for the longest active streak in NCAA Division I. The Lady Bears last lost a true road game on Dec. 9, 2018 at Indiana, and since then are 18-1 away from home including neutral-site contests. After running the table in Valley road games last year, MSU has picked up wins at No.13 Iowa State, 23rd-ranked Minnesota and Boise State.
3) Head Coach
Amaka Agugua-Hamilton became the third MSU coach to win her first game on the sideline, joining Reba Sims (1969) and Cheryl Burnett (1987), and is the first coach on record to win her first three games. Coach Mox was named MSU's eighth head women's basketball coach in April.
4) Missouri State's last seven games have included five top-25 teams and another that was receiving votes in both major polls. The lone loss during that stretch was to No. 6 Stanford in the 2019 Sweet 16.
5) The Lady Bears return 12 players from last season's roster with one newcomer, freshman
Trinity Knapp. MSU closed last year with 24 wins in 27 games, and returns at least 73 percent of its production in every statistical category.
Preseason WNIT Format
Four teams remain in the Preseason WNIT winner's bracket, with the other semifinal of DePaul at Oregon State set for a 9 p.m. Central tip on Thursday. The two winners will play in the championship game on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Central on CBS Sports Network, while the semifinal losers will not play additional WNIT games. The championship site will be announced at the conclusion of both semifinals.
Series History
Missouri State and Oklahoma have met seven times, with the Sooners holding a 4-3 edge. OU won the most recent meeting in Springfield in 2005, and the Lady Bears are 1-2 in Norman with a win in 1997 and losses in 2000 and 2004.
Scouting Oklahoma
Oklahoma is 2-0 on the season, winning home games Prairie A&M and UAB in the Preseason WNIT. The Sooners return five starters from last season's 8-22 club, and are picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 this season. Junior guard Ana Llanusa is a preseason all-conference pick after averaging 18.3 points per game last season. The Sooners are led by 24th-year head coach and Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Sherri Coale, who joined the Hall in the Class of 2016 with former MSU player and assistant Jackie Stiles, who is in her first year on Coale's staff OU.
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