The Lady Bear Necessities
- Missouri State women's basketball closes out its three-game road stint with a Thursday night (6 p.m.) showdown against the first-place Drake Bulldogs. This marks the only regular season meeting between the two teams.
- Point guard Lacy Stokes (Jr., Mount Vernon, Mo.) was named MVC Newcomer of the Week for the seventh time this season on Tuesday. Stokes averaged a team-leading 16.0 points/game while also adding 4.0 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.5 assists per game. She shot .435 from the field and .857 from the free throw line, leading MSU in both FTM (12) and FTA (14) in road wins at Indiana State and Evansville.
- Paige Rocca (Sr., Iowa City, Iowa) is set to play in her 100th career game in her home state of Iowa. The senior is shooting .407 from the field, .391 from three and .821 from the line this season and is second on the team in minutes with 27.5 per game.
- In the Beth Cunningham era, the Lady Bears are 23-3 when scoring 70+ points. Under Cunningham, Missouri State is 27-0 when allowing 65 points or less and 34-4 when holding opponents to 70 points or less.
- Defense and rebounding have been vital to the Lady Bears' success this season. Missouri State ranks second in The Valley in scoring defense, holding opponents to 64.2 points/game. The Lady Bears rank first in the MVC in rebounding defense (30.6) and second in rebounding margin (+5.8), which trails only first-place Drake.
- MSU is 14-1 this season when winning the battle on the boards, 15-2 when owning more assists than its opponents and is undefeated at 8-0 when knocking down more free throws than its competition.
- After finishing last season ranked 251st nationally in three-point percentage (.292), the Lady Bears have found success from behind the arc this season. Missouri State currently ranks 44th nationally and second in The Valley, shooting at a .350 (124-354) clip from three-point range.
- Two Lady Bears average double-figure points this season for MSU - Lacy Stokes (11.2) and Kennedy Taylor (10.8). Stokes also leads MSU with 105 assists and 46 steals on the year, while Taylor leads the team with 23 blocked shots and in double-figure point games (15), double-figure rebound games (5) and double-doubles (5) this season. In conference games, Taylor leads the league in FG% (.558).
- Missouri State is 5-0 this season in games decided by five points or less. The Lady Bears have won those five games by a combined 10 points.
The Series
Missouri State leads the all-time series against Drake, 51-46, but trails in the series in Des Moines, 15-26. The Bulldogs have won the last two meetings in the series.
The Lady Bears and Bulldogs met three times last season with MSU going 1-2 against Drake. The first meeting came in Springfield with the Lady Bears winning 64-54 after taking the lead in the first quarter and never surrendering it. Current Lady Bear
Jade Masogayo had 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting against Drake in the victory.
In the return trip to Des Moines, it was a different story for the Lady Bears. MSU got behind early and was never able to recover, suffering an 83-63 loss in the final weekend of the regular season. The two squads met once more in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals. With a bitter taste still in their mouth from their last meeting against the Bulldogs, the Lady Bears put up a tremendous fight. In a tie game headed to the fourth, MSU took an eight-point lead early in the final period, but Drake battled back to retake the lead. MSU had a chance to tie the game with 0:01 remaining, but ultimately fell short 73-70.
A Lady Bear Win Would...
- Mark MSU's first win in Des Moines since Jan. 15, 2022.
- Keep Missouri State in at least a tie for second place in the MVC standings.
- Improve the Lady Bears to 5-0 in games played on Thursday this season.
