The Lady Bear NecessitiesÂ
- Missouri State women's basketball is looking for its first road win in conference play as the Lady Bears head to Evansville for a Friday night (6 p.m.) matchup. MoState leads the all-time series 52-13, including a 23-9 record on the road in Evansville. The Lady Bears have won the last 14 meetings in the series.
- In five road games this season, the Lady Bears own a plus-8.2 scoring and plus-9.0 rebounding margin, while shooting .451 from the field and .400 from beyond the arc. Kyrah Daniels (So., Highlands Ranch, Colo.) is MoState's leading scorer on the road at 18.0 points/game.
- As a team, the Lady Bears rank inside the top 50 nationally in four categories: 11th in free throw attempts per game (22.0), 26th in three-point percentage (.365), 30th in rebound margin (+8.1) and 41st in free throws made per game (14.3). MoState also leads the Missouri Valley Conference and ranks 70th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (13.5).Â
- Sarah Linthacum (Sr., Jefferson City, Mo.) has been extremely efficient for the Lady Bears in the post. She leads Missouri State with a .536 (74-138) field goal percentage, which ranks fourth in the MVC. The 6-3 forward is coming off a 7-for-7 performance against Southern Illinois, which is tied for the fifth-best single-game FG% (min. 6 FGM) in program history.
- Lacy Stokes (Sr., Mount Vernon, Mo.) continues to do it all for Missouri State from the point guard position. Stokes leads the team in scoring (13.1 ppg), assists (60), steals (34), free throw percentage (.812) and minutes (34.1 mpg).Â
- Kaemyn Bekemeier (So., Republic, Mo.) is coming off of her second career double-double after posting 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds in the win over Southern Illinois. Coming off the bench, Bekemeier is one of four Lady Bears averaging at least 10.0 ppg and she leads the team in rebounds (83) along with fellow sophomore Kyrah Daniels.
- A couple of keys to success for Missouri State this season have been:
- Getting off to a quick start: 11-1 when leading at the half and are 0-3 when trailing at the break.
- Bench production: 9-0 this season when leading in bench scoring. MSU ranks 85th nationally in bench points per game (23.1).
- In the Cunningham era, Missouri State is 33-4 when scoring 70+ points, 39-1 when holding opponents to 65 points or less and 30-0 when opponents score less than 60 points.Â
- Missouri State was picked to finish fifth in the MVC preseason poll for the second consecutive year. MSU finished third in the regular season last year with a 15-5 league record. Stokes earned a spot on the preseason All-MVC first team after earning second-team honors a year ago.
The SeriesÂ
Missouri State leads the all-time series 52-13 against Evansville, which includes a 23-9 record on the road. The Lady Bears have won the last 14 meetings in the series as their last loss to the Purple Aces came on 3/10/17 in the MVC Tournament, 65-59.
   Last year in Evansville, it took a big fourth quarter for Missouri State to come away with a win. MoState led by just three heading in to the final period, before holding the Purple Aces to 18% (2-for-11) from the field in the fourth and ending the game on a 15-2 run to eventually secure the 17-point win.
Lacy Stokes led the way with 19 points in addition to seven rebounds and three steals.
   In last season's first meeting in Springfield, the Lady Bears dominated en route to a 35-point, 90-55, victory. Missouri State jumped out to a 13-0 lead to begin the game and never looked back. MoState had five players reach double-figure points, while all 14 players on last year's roster recorded a rebound in the win.
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