Missouri State Lady Bears (9-6, 4-2 MVC) at Belmont Bruins (7-10, 3-3 MVC)
Date and Time	Friday, January 20 | 6:30 p.m. CT
Location	Curb Event Center | Nashville, Tenn.
Tickets	Tickets
Radio	KWTO 93.3 FM (Tom Ladd, Lynne Miller) | Listen Live | Varsity Network
TV	ESPN+ (Brad Wells, Kelly Burke) | Watch
Live Stats	Statbroadcast.com
Missouri State	Game Notes | Women's Basketball Home Page
Belmont	Women's Basketball Home Page
Up Next	Sunday, Jan. 22 at Murray State, 2:00 p.m. CT | Murray, Ky. | Tickets

Starting Five - Storylines for the Belmont Game
1) The Missouri State Lady Bears are continuing their tradition of dominance on the boards this season. MSU ranks 6th nationally and 1st in the Missouri Valley Conference with 17.3 offensive rebounds per game, while ranking 2nd in the conference and 16th in the country in total rebound average with 43.3 per game. Missouri State also owns a +10.9 rebound margin, which is 2nd in the conference and 8th nationally. The Lady Bears are currently on pace to set the school record for rebound margin at plus-10.9. The current record is plus-10.8 which was set in 2020-21.

2) Missouri State sophomore Kennedy Taylor has made a major impact for the Lady Bears this season, earning MVC Newcomer of the Week twice this season. She has recorded eight consecutive double-digit scoring performances and is averaging a double-double in MVC games at 14.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game on 54% shooting from the field. Taylor tops the Valley and ranks 22nd nationally in offensive boards with 3.8 per game.

3) In last week's win against Southern Illinois, fifth-year senior Aniya Thomas tallied 25 points and a career-high 10 assists to just two turnovers. She became the first Lady Bear since Casey Garrison on Jan. 29, 2012 to record at least 20 points and 10 assists. Thomas leads the team with 74 assists, 37 steals and two 20+-point performances in conference play, and ranks 2nd in the MVC with 4.9 assists/game and 2.5 steals/game.

4) Fifth-year senior Sydney Wilson sits in second place all-time in career wins with 108 as a Lady Bear, trailing only Brice Calip (2017-22) who owns 122 career wins. Wilson is also just 3 points shy of becoming the 31st Lady Bear in program history to score 1,000 career points. 

5) Friday's matchup with the Bruins in Nashville marks the first-ever meeting between the two teams. The Lady Bears are 44-10 in their last 54 true road games and 33-6 in the last 39 MVC road contests.

Series History
Friday night's game marks the first-ever meeting between Missouri State and Belmont.

The Opponent 
    Preseason MVC-favorite Belmont is off to 7-10 start overall and is 3-3 in league action. The Bruins are led by MVC Preseason Player of the Year selection Destinee Wells who is averaging 16.1 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game and has 72 assists on the year. Belmont has four playes averaging double figures in scoring, including Sydni Harvey who is shooting a team-high 40% from three and has 37 made triples on the season. 
    As a team, the Bruins are scoring 66.1 points/game and pulling down 34.9 rebounds/game. Belmont shoots .406 from the field, .335 from three and .693 from the free throw line, in addition to owning a -3.3 scoring and -4.4 rebounding margin. The Bruins also average 14.4 turnovers per game dish out 12.2 assists per game.