The Lady Bear NecessitiesÂ
- Missouri State women's basketball wraps up its four-game road swing with a Saturday afternoon (4 p.m.) contest at Belmont. The all-time series is tied 3-3, but the Lady Bears are 0-2 against the Bruins in Nashville. MoState has won the last three meetings, including a 57-55 win in Springfield this season.
- Lacy Stokes (Sr., Mount Vernon, Mo.) was named MVC Player of the Week on Monday after helping lead MoState to two overtime road victories at UNI and Drake. The senior averaged 20.5 points, 7.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. With a 20-point performance at Drake she surpassed 2,000 career points.Â
- Stokes tops the MVC and ranks 25th in the nation in steals (71) this season. The senior has posted four consecutive 20-point outings, leading the Lady Bears in scoring in all four of those contests.Â
- Lainie Douglas (Fr., Overland Park, Kan.) was named MVC Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season on Monday. In two road wins last week, Douglas averaged 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting .529 (9-17) from the field. According to HerHoopStats.com, she is one of just six freshmen in NCAA Division I currently shooting at least 56% from the field (min. 100 FGA).
- Spectacular Sophomores - Sophomores Kaemyn Bekemeier (11.0 ppg) and Kyrah Daniels (12.1 ppg) are two of four Lady Bears averaging double-figure points this season, and they rank first and third on the team in rebounding with 168 and 144 boards, respectively. Bekemeier leads the team in FT% (.797) and is 3rd in 3FG% (.374), while Daniels leads the team in 3FGM (55) and blocks (22).
- Paige Rocca (Sr., Iowa City, Iowa) ranks 4th in program history with 103 career wins, trailing only Brice Calip (122), Sydney Wilson (119) and Melody Howard (104).Â
- In 13 true road games this season, Daniels is MoState's leading scorer with 16.2 points per game. As a team, Missouri State is shooting 45% from the field and 35% from three on the road.Â
- A couple of keys to success for Missouri State this season have been:
- Getting off to a quick start: 19-1 when leading at the half and are 2-5 when trailing at the break.
- Â Bench production: 17-2 this season when leading in bench scoring.Â
- Â Balanced offense: 14-1 this season when four or more players score in double figures.Â
- Missouri State ranks 42nd nationally in bench points per game with 23.6. The duo of Bekemeier and Douglas has accounted for 77.5 percent (513 out of 662) of MoState's bench points this season.Â
- In the Cunningham era, Missouri State is 44-4 when scoring 70+ points, 47-1 when holding opponents to 65 points or less and 35-0 when opponents score less than 60 points.Â
The SeriesÂ
The all-time series between Missouri State and Belmont is tied, 3-3, but the Lady Bears are 0-2 on the road in Nashville. MoState has won the last three meetings in the series.Â
   Last season in Nashville, the Lady Bears suffered a setback, falling 66-55 as their comeback effort fell short. After trailing by as many as 22 points in the first half, MoState cut the Belmont lead to three at the end of the third, but that's as close as they would get.
Kaemyn Bekemeier posted a team-high 14 points, while adding 5 boards and 3 assists.Â
   This year's first meeting in Springfield saw a close contest between the two squads. The game was tied at 42-42 entering the fourth quarter and Belmont took a one-point lead with under two minutes remaining. MoState stayed resilient and flipped the lead back in favor of the Lady Bears and they hung on to win by two points.
Sarah Linthacum led the way with 17 points, while
Kiley Bess grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in the matchup.
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