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The Lady Bear Necessities
- Missouri State women's basketball will host Little Rock on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.) in the 20th meeting between the two programs. MoState leads the series 15-4, including an 11-1 record at home against the Trojans.
- The Lady Bears returned home last week following a six-game road stretch that spanned 25 days. Three of MSU's final four non-conference games, including last Friday's 62-50 win over Wyoming, will be played at Great Southern Bank Arena and all four will take place in the state of Missouri.
- Missouri State has been extremely successful on its home court, boasting an 88-13 record in its last 101 home games. Under Beth Cunningham, the Lady Bears are 27-5 at home including a 2-0 record in Springfield this season.
- Kaemyn Bekemeier (So., Republic, Mo.) continues to be a spark off the bench for the Lady Bears. She has scored at least 10 points in each of the last five games and in six of eight games on the season. Bekemeier posted a career-high 15 points in last week's win over Wyoming, and she is averaging 10.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting .519 from the field and .500 from beyond the arc in 21.2 minutes per game.
- Transfer Sarah Linthacum (Sr. Jefferson City, Mo.) has made an immediate impact in the Lady Bears' starting lineup. She has scored in double figures in all but one game this season, leads MoState with 5.6 rebounds per game and is shooting 50% (40-80) from the field.
- Lacy Stokes (Sr., Mount Vernon, Mo.) continues to lead the way for Missouri State from the point guard position, averaging 12.4 points/game while dishing out 33 assists and collecting 18 steals on the year so far. She ranks 3rd in the MVC and 49th nationally in minutes per game (35.1).
- Missouri State sits just two wins away from achieving 1,000 program victories. The Lady Bears are in their 56th season of women's collegiate basketball and own an all-time record of 998-642 (.609).
- The Lady Bears rank 24th nationally in three-point field goal percentage this season, shooting at a 37% (52-139) clip from beyond the arc.
- In the Cunningham era, Missouri State is 29-4 when scoring 70+ points, 34-1 when holding opponents to 65 points or less and 25-0 when opponents score less than 60 points.
- Missouri State was picked to finish fifth in the MVC preseason poll for the second consecutive year. MSU finished third in the regular season a year ago with a 15-5 conference record. Stokes earned a spot on the preseason All-MVC first team after earning second-team honors a year ago, in addition to being named to the MVC All-Newcomer and All-Defensive teams.
The Series
Saturday afternoon's contest will mark the 20th matchup between Missouri State and Little Rock. The Lady Bears own a 15-4 advantage in the series, including an 11-1 record at home.
Last season, Missouri State opened the season on the road at Little Rock. The Lady Bears led wire-to-wire, but the game was close down the stretch as LR cut the MoState lead to one point with 1:03 remaining. From there, Missouri State was able to grab a couple of key defensive rebounds and went 4-for-6 from the free throw line over the final 0:34, as the Trojans were forced to foul, to secure the road win.
Lacy Stokes led the way with 18 points and five assists, while
Kyrah Daniels joined in double figures with 10 points and two steals as they both made their Lady Bear debuts.
In Little Rock's last trip to Springfield, the Lady Bears closed out their non-conference slate with a 55-48 win over the Trojans. After a low-scoring first half, 17-16 Lady Bear advantage at halftime, Missouri State created some separation out of the intermission. Holding an eight-point lead after three quarters, MoState's Aniya Thomas poured in 15 fourth-quarter points to help propel the Lady Bears to victory. Thomas finished with a game-high 19 points, while the Lady Bears didn't allow a made three-point field goal and outrebounded the Trojans, 41-25.
