Women's Basketball Hosts Flames for Saturday Showdown

Missouri State Lady Bears (13-7, 8-3 MVC) vs. UIC Flames (13-9, 5-6 MVC)
Date and Time	Saturday, February 4 \| 1 p.m. CT
Location	Great Southern Bank Arena (11,000) \| Springfield, Mo.
Tickets	Tickets \| (417) 836-7678 \| Great Southern Bank Arena Box Office "1-2-3 Saturdays" Ticket Special - $1 tickets, $2 hot dogs, $3 Coke products
Promotions	Wear Black \| T-Shirt Giveaway (Students) \| Headband Giveaway (First 500 students & first 500 fans) 2022-23 Promotional Calendar
Fan Info.	Digital Game Program
Radio	KWTO 93.3 FM (Tom Ladd, Lynne Miller) \| Listen Live \| Varsity Network
TV	ESPN+ (Corey Riggs, Carly Stubblefield) \| Watch
Live Stats	Sidearm Stats
Missouri State	Game Notes \| Women's Basketball Home Page
UIC	Women's Basketball Home Page
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) \| Google Play Store (Android Devices)
Up Next	Friday, February 10 at Bradley, 7 p.m. CT \| Tickets

Accessibility
Missouri State University is committed to providing an accessible and supportive environment for those with disabilities. To request reasonable disability accommodations, contact the Deputy Compliance Officer at (417) 836-6755 or DeputyComplianceOfficer@MissouriState.edu.

Starting Five - Storylines for the UIC Game
1) The Missouri State Lady Bears are continuing their tradition of dominance on the boards this season. MSU ranks 7th nationally and 1st in the Missouri Valley Conference with 16.6 offensive rebounds per game, while ranking 2nd in the conference and 20th in the country in total rebound average with 42.6 per game. Missouri State also owns a +10.9 rebound margin, which is 1st in the conference and 6th nationally and is on pace to break the current school record of plus-10.8 set in 2020-21.

2) Missouri State fifth-year senior Sydney Wilson is the reigning MVC Player of the Week after averaging 12.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals last week, while shooting .588 (10-17) from the field and achoring two impressive defensive performances against UNI and Drake. She also grabbed a vital offensive rebound and scored the game-winning basket on the putback versus the Panthers. The honor marked the first MVC weekly award of her career. She also owns 112 career wins as a Lady Bear.

3) Aniya Thomas continues to do it all for the Lady Bears this season, as she leads the team with 14.5 points per game, 93 assists and 45 steals. She is riding a streak of 12 consecutive games with 10+ points and has logged nine games with 5+ assists this season. Thomas also leads the team with four 20-point outings on the year and has reached double figures 17 times in 20 games on the season.

4) Freshman Jade Masogayo has hit her stride recently as she owns a .740 FG% (37-for-50) over the last seven games, as she is shooting a team-high .541 from the field on the season. Against UNI, she went 6-for-6 from the field to become the first Lady Bear to shoot 100 percent from the field (min. 6 FGA) since Abby Hipp went 7-for-7 at Boise State on Nov. 10, 2019.

5) Missouri State is 8-0 this season when holding opponents to 60 points or less and 9-0 when scoring 70+ points. They also own a 13-2 record when collecting more assists than their opponent, meanwhile that record falls to 0-5 when their opponent has more assists.

Series History
UIC leads the all-time series against Missouri State, 2-1. The Lady Bears and Flames are meeting for the first time since Dec. 19, 2005, when MSU took home a 64-60 victory versus UIC at the Fun in the Sun Shootout in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. MSU and UIC have not met in Springfield, while the Lady Bears are 0-2 on the road against the Flames.

The Opponent
First-year Missouri Valley Conference member UIC is off to a 13-9 start to the season and has posted a 5-6 conference record to this point. The Flames are led by Josie Filer, who averages a team-high 12.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Jaida McCloud follows Filer with 10.9 points/game, as Kristian Young leads UIC with 82 assists and 35 steals. As a team, the Flames average 56.4 points and 32.3 boards per game, while shooting .394 from the field and .299 from three.

Women's Basketball Hosts Flames for Saturday Showdown

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Players Mentioned

Abby Hipp

Jade Masogayo

Aniya Thomas

Sydney Wilson

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