SPRINGFIELD — Missouri State earned its 20th Missouri Valley Conference road victory in 25 tries Friday evening, taking control with an 18-2 first-half run before holding off a late Illinois State charge for a 56-50 victory at Redbird Arena.
The Lady Bears (8-8, 4-1 MVC) trailed 4-0 in the first two minutes, then held the home team to a single field goal over the next 10 minutes on the way to an 18-6 lead early in the second quarter.
The Redbirds (6-9, 0-4) got as close as 20-15 with 4:33 until intermission, but Aubrey Buckley‘s second traditional 3-point play of the half pushed MSU’s lead back to 30-18 with 1:06 left, and the Lady Bears carried the 12-point lead into the break at 32-20, thanks in large part to making their final four field goals attempts to shoot 50 percent in the first 20 minutes.
Brice Calip knocked down a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half to put the Lady Bears up 35-20, but the Redbirds eventually cut the lead to single digits at 41-32 with a trey at the 2:36 mark, and pulled to 44-36 before Calip ended the period with another triple for and eight-point quarter and 47-36 lead.
Missouri State suffered through a four-minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter while ISU cut the lead to 50-42 before Liza Fruendt answered with an assist of a Calip layup followed by her own steal and score for 54-42 with 3:14 to play. The Redbirds made it interesting with an 8-0 run to close to 54-50 with 45.5 seconds left, but the Lady Bears held strong on their final two defensive possessions for their seventh win in the last nine games.
Buckley finished with a season-high 15 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals, Fruendt narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine boards, and Calip scored all 10 of her points in the second half. Danielle Gitzen swiped four steals, giving her multiple thefts for the seventh consecutive game.
MSU finished with 11 steals, forcing ISU into 20 turnovers against 12 of its own. The Lady Bears shot 41.2 percent against a Redbird squad that allows 34.5 percent on the season, while the Redbirds finished with a 34-30 lead on the glass.
MSU visits Bradley (9-6, 3-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Braves lost 63-62 to Southern Illinois on Friday.
