Lady Bears Welcome Billikens for Tuesday Matchup

Missouri State Lady Bears (0-1) vs. Saint Louis Billikens (1-2)
Date and Time	Tuesday, November 15, 6 p.m.
Location	Great Southern Bank Arena (11,000) \| Springfield, Mo.
Tickets	Tickets \| (417) 836-7678 \| Great Southern Bank Arena Box Office
Promotions	Wear Maroon \| Bears Supporting Bears
Fan Info.	Digital Game Program
Radio	KWTO (93.3 FM) \| Listen Live
TV	ESPN+ \| Watch
Live Stats	Sidearm Stats
Missouri State	Game Notes \| Women's Basketball Home Page
Saint Louis	Women's Basketball Home Page
Up Next	Thursday, November 17 vs. Oklahoma State, 6 p.m. \| Tickets

Starting Five - Storylines for the Saint Louis Game
1) Welcome to the Cunningham Era - Missouri State enters its first season with Beth Cunningham at the helm of the Lady Bears program. This season will mark Cunningham's 10th season as a head coach after she spent nine seasons leading VCU from 2003-2012. Since then, Cunningham served as associate head coach under Hall of Famer Muffet McGraw at her alma mater, Notre Dame. She then went on to Duke, where she was as an assistant coach under Kara Lawson for two seasons before coming to Springfield.

2) Since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, MSU has compiled a 57-9 record inside Great Southern Bank Arena, while boasting a 36-3 record since the start of the 2019-20 season. The Lady Bears are 61-9 in their last 70 home games, beginning Feb. 10, 2017. Since then, MSU has averaged 73.1 points with a plus-16.3 scoring margin and plus-9.7 rebounding margin.

3) MSU returns one starter from last season in fifth-year senior Sydney Wilson. The next win Wilson plays in will mark her 100th career victory as a Lady Bear. Wilson currently ranks in the top 25 in career free throw percentage, career three-pointers and career games played while also ranking inside the top 30 in steals and top 40 in scoring and free throws made in program history. Last season, Wilson averaged 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

4) Kansas transfer Aniya Thomas is just 16 points away from 1,000 points for her career, after a five-point performance against Missouri on November 7. Thomas averaged 8.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game last season at KU with 16 starts.

5) MSU has not lost back-to-back games in a season since 2018-19. The last time MSU suffered consecutive losses in a season was when the Lady Bears dropped five in a row from Nov. 24-Dec. 16, 2018.

Series History
Missouri State leads the all-time series against Saint Louis, 13-3. The Lady Bears own a 7-1 record against the Billikens in Springfield. The teams last met on Dec. 12, 2010 in St. Louis, with the Lady Bears taking home a 67-57 win. In SLU's last trip to Springfield, MSU earned a 75-59 victory.

The Opponent
Saint Louis is 1-2 to begin the season, with their most recent outing resulting in a 64-84 loss to fellow MVC opponent, Northern Iowa. The Billikens have three players averaging 10+ ppg, including Kyla McMakin who leads the way for SLU with 20.3 ppg. Brooke Flowers is averaging a double-double three games into the year with 11.3 points and 10 rebounds per game.
As a squad, SLU is shooting .439 from the field and owns a scoring average of 73.7. The Billikens are also averaging 14 steals and 5.7 blocks per game.

Lady Bears Welcome Billikens for Tuesday Matchup

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Aniya Thomas

Sydney Wilson

Footer