SPRINGFIELD – Missouri State held visiting Southern Illinois to 26 percent shooting and the lowest scoring output by a Missouri Valley Conference team against the Lady Bears in three years Wednesday afternoon in a 61-44 victory at JQH Arena.

Emily Gartner scored a season-high 15 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for her second career double-double, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor to lead all scorers. Jasmine Franklin added 13 points and Brice Calip scored 11 for the 25th-ranked Lady Bears, who improved to 9-2 overall and 5-0 in conference play for the first time since 2019.

An early 9-0 SIU (5-5, 2-3) run put the Salukis up 9-4 and gave MSU its largest deficit of the Valley season, but the Lady Bears quickly rallied, trailing for just 3:25 of game time and making 11 of their next 13 shots on the way to a 28-17 lead with 6:24 left until halftime.

Missouri State took a 35-22 margin into the break after shooting 52 percent, but managed just two field goals - both from Gartner - in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Despite the cold shooting, the Lady Bears still led 51-42 as the clock ticked under five minutes and closed on a 10-2 run that included and-ones from Calip and Franklin.

MSU shot 38.9 percent overall but a season-best 16-for-18 at the foul line, while SIU became the fourth team this season to shoot below 28 percent against the Lady Bears with the fewest points by an MVC team versus Missouri State since Loyola scored 36 in January 2018.

Calip had a season-high seven assists and three steals, extending personal streaks to five straight games with five-plus assists (most since Casey Garrison in 2012) and six in a row with three-plus steals (most since Tyonna Snow in 2014).

Missouri State got 26 points from its bench, won 38-35 on the glass, and committed a season-low nine turnovers.

The Lady Bears head to Valparaiso Jan. 30 and 31 for a pair of games with the Crusaders.