LAWRENCE, Kan. — Missouri State out-scored the Kansas Jayhawks by 20 points in the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon on the way to an 87-64 win inside historic Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas native Lexi Hughes scored 22 points and added a career-high eight rebounds to lead four Lady Bears (1-1) in double figures.
Missouri State closed the first quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 17-11 after the first period, and trailed the Jayhawks (0-1) for less than two minutes for the remainder of the game despite several rallies from the home team.
Freshman Brice Calip scored two of her 14 points to give MSU a 21-13 lead early in a wild second quarter that saw the Jayhawks tie the score five times but never take the lead. The Lady Bears went ahead 37-30 on an Alexa Willard layup shortly before half, and KU tied the score at 37 with a 7-0 run before Hughes buried one of her four treys for a 40-37 lead at the break.
The Jayhawks knocked down a triple for a 44-43 advantage two minutes into the second half, and another Hughes trey with 4:41 left in the third quarter gave the Lady Bears a 48-45 lead they would not relinquish.
Missouri State held a 55-52 advantage entering the fourth quarter, stretched it to 64-56 on Audrey Holt’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 7:39 remaining, and got five points from Fruendt in the decisive 9-0 run that pushed the lead to 73-58 with 4:50 left as the Lady Bears shot 11-for-17 in the final period and owned a 28-16 rebounding margin after halftime.
Fruendt finished with 18 points and Aubrey Buckley added 10 in Kellie Harper’s 57th win in 100 games as MSU head coach. MSU shot 32-for-60 (.533) in the game and 8-for-15 from long range while holding the Jayhawks to 25-for-70 overall and 25.7 percent in the second half. The Lady Bears won the final rebounding battle, 44-35.
MSU continues its season-opening road trip Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game at Northwestern.
