Missouri State Lady Bears (23-9) at Illinois Fighting Illini (14-15)
Date and Time	Thursday, March 21 | 6:00 p.m.
Location	State Farm Center | Champaign, Ill.
WBIT	WBIT Home Page | Bracket (PDF)
Tickets	Tickets
TV	ESPN+ (Scott Sudikoff, Shimmy Gray-Miller) | Watch
Radio	KWTO 93.3 FM (Tom Ladd, Lynne Miller) | Listen Live | Varsity Network
Live Stats	Live Stats
Watch Party	Lady Bears Watch Party | Meyer Alumni Center | Doors Open at 5:30 p.m.
Missouri State	Game Notes | Women's Basketball Home Page
Illinois	Women's Basketball Home Page
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) | Google Play Store (Android Devices)

The Lady Bear Necessities 

• Missouri State women's basketball earned a bid into the inaugural Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament, securing the team's ninth consecutive postseason tournament appearance. The Lady Bears travel to face Illinois in a Thursday night (6:00 p.m.) first round matchup. MSU is 1-2 all-time against the Fighting Illini. 
• The Lady Bears are coming off a heart-breaker in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game, in which they fell 76-75 to the top-seeded Drake Bulldogs on a last second shot at the buzzer after taking their first lead of the game with 0:03 remaining on a Lacy Stokes floater. 
• Lacy Stokes and Indya Green were named to the MVC All-Tournament team after their impressive performances in MSU's run to the title game. Stokes averaged a team-high 18.0 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 steals per game, while Green averaged a double-double with 15.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game across the three-game span.
• MSU has logged seven consecutive 20-win seasons, which have come under three different head coaches (Kellie Harper, Amaka Agugua-Hamilton and Beth Cunningham).
• Kennedy Taylor has provided a spark off the bench for Missouri State this season, averaging 10.7 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 50% from the field and 66% from the line. In the MVC Tournament title game, Taylor had a team-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. 
• Stokes and Taylor took home multiple MVC postseason awards last week. Stokes was named MVC Newcomer of the Year and earned spots on the All-MVC Second Team, All-Defensive Team and All-Newcomer Team. Taylor was named the league's Sixth Player of the Year and was named to the All-MVC Third Team for the second straight year. 
• In the Beth Cunningham era, the Lady Bears are 27-4 when scoring 70+ points. Under Cunningham, Missouri State is 31-1 when allowing 65 points or less and 40-5 when holding opponents to 70 points or less. This season, the Lady Bears have held 17 opponents to 65 points or less.
• In addition to making the first-ever WBIT, the Lady Bears were also a part of the first-ever First Four round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021-22.     
• The Lady Bears are 7-2 in games decided by five points or less and are 4-1 in one-point games this season. Those seven victories have come by a total of 16 points.
• MSU is 18-3 this season when winning the battle on the boards, 20-2 when owning more assists than its opponents and is undefeated at 12-0 when knocking down more free throws than its competition. 

Series History
Missouri State is 1-2 all-time against Illinois, including an 0-1 record on the road in Champaign. The last meeting between the two teams was on March 25, 2010 in Springfield with the Lady Bears hosting the Fighting Illini in the Women's National Invitation Tournament. Illinois won the contest, 65-53.