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The Lady Bear NecessitiesÂ
- Missouri State women's basketball closes out the regular season with a two-game home stand, beginning with a Thursday night (6:30 p.m.) matchup against Illinois State. The Lady Bears enter the final weekend in a three-way tie for first place in the MVC regular-season standings.
- MoState is 50-37 all time against the Redbirds, including a 26-15 record at home. The two teams have traded wins over the last eight meetings - Illinois State owns the most recent victory, a 66-55 win over the Lady Bears on Feb. 2 in Normal, Ill.
- Missouri State is the lone team in the MVC with an undefeated record at home this season (12-0). The Lady Bears have won 15 straight games at home dating back to last season, which is tied for the 13th longest active home win streak in NCAA Division I. In home games this season, MoState is holding opponents to 56.2 points/game and owns a +18.4 scoring margin.Â
- Lacy Stokes (Sr., Mount Vernon, Mo.) continunes to get it done on both ends of the floor for Missouri State. The 5-4 point guard tops the MVC and ranks 27th in the nation in steals (73) and 28th in steals/game (2.5) this season. Stokes also leads MoState in scoring (13.6 ppg) and assists (122), and she has posted six consecutive double-digit scoring performances.Â
- Lainie Douglas (Fr., Overland Park, Kan.), a four-time MVC Freshman of the Week, is currently one of five freshmen in NCAA Division I shooting at least 56% from the field (min. 100 FGA).Â
- Spectacular Sophomores - Sophomores Kaemyn Bekemeier (11.2 ppg) and Kyrah Daniels (12.3 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 175 and 150 boards, respectively. Bekemeier is 2nd on the team in FT% (.779) and 3FG% (.371), while Daniels leads the team in 3FGM (56) and blocks (23).
- Missouri State ranks 43rd nationally in bench points per game with 23.4. The duo of Bekemeier and Douglas has accounted for 78.1 percent (531 out of 680) of MoState's bench points this season.Â
- 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
- A couple of keys to success for Missouri State this season have been:
- Getting off to a quick start: 19-2 when leading at the half and are 2-5 when trailing at the break.
- Bench production: 17-3 this season when leading in bench scoring.Â
- Balanced offense: 14-1 this season when four or more players score in double figures.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
Missouri State leads the all-time series 50-37 against Illinois State, which includes a 26-15 record at home. The Lady Bears and Redbirds have traded wins over the last eight contests, with Illinois State owning the most recent win in the series.Â
   Earlier this season in Normal, the Lady Bears trailed by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but they clawed their way back into the game. MoState pulled within one possession with just over two minutes left, but that's as close as it would get as Illinois State ended the game on an 11-2 run.
Sarah Linthacum and
Kyrah Daniels led the way with 14 points, while
Paige Rocca added 12 points.Â
   In last year's meeting in Springfield, MoState earned a five-point win on its home floor. With the game tied at 61-61 with under two minutes remaining, the Lady Bears went on a 6-1 run to end the game and secure the win.
Lacy Stokes had a tremendous game, scoring 26 points, dishing out 7 assists and collecting 7 steals.Â
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