Lady Bears dominate Evansville for 2nd straight win

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Missouri State led by double digits for nearly 33 minutes of game time Friday evening on the way to picking up a second consecutive Missouri Valley Conference victory by a 77-41 final at the Ford Center.

The Lady Bears (6-9, 2-2) posted their best defensive performance of the season in holding the Purple Aces (7-9, 2-3) to 12-for-59 (.203) shooting and dominating the boards to the tune of a 57-34 rebounding advantage.

MSU placed four scorers in double figures, led by 19 from Liza Fruendt, while Alexa Willard added 14 and Aubrey Buckley and Danielle Gitzen tallied 10 apiece as each Lady Bear in uniform scored for the third time this season.

Audrey Holt grabbed a season-high nine rebounds to share game-high honors with Rachel Swartz, and Lexi Hughes matched her career high with seven assists as MSU dished out a season-high 19 helpers as a team.

Missouri State started the game on an 8-0 run and held Evansville without a field goal until 2:25 remained in the first quarter. Gitzen’s 3-point play 20 seconds later made it 16-4 and put MSU ahead by double figures for good, and the lead grew to 20 points at 32-11 on Onye Osemenam‘s bucket with 4:33 left before halftime.

The Lady Bears led by at least 20 points for the remainder of the contest after a Fruendt trey made it 35-13 with 3:37 left in the second quarter, and the margin grew to as many as 38 points after a 9-0 fourth-quarter run made the score 75-37.

MSU shot 41.2 percent for the game, made eight 3-pointers, and shot 13-for-16 from the foul line. The Lady Bears turned 21 offensive rebounds into 25 points and limited UE to 3-for-25 from beyond the arc.

Missouri State travels to Southern Illinois (8-8, 2-3) on Sunday for a 2 p.m. contest.

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