Lady Bears can’t hold on vs. first-place Drake
In a crucial late-season matchup between first- and second-place teams, Missouri State led by as many as nine in the third quarter but couldn’t hold on.
Drake (21-5, 14-1) remained alone atop the league’s standings with a 76-65 win over the Lady Bears (17-7, 11-4) on Thursday night in Des Moines.
The Lady Bears now find themselves down three games to the Bulldogs with five games to go. Drake’s win likely knocks MSU out of contention for the league title, leaving the Lady Bears fighting for positioning near the top of the standings for conference tournament positioning.
Thursday’s turning point came when the Lady Bears led 45-36 with 5:48 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs ended the frame on a 16-4 run to take a fivepoint lead into the fourth.
There were multiple points in the fourth quarter in which the Lady Bears cut the Bulldogs’ lead down to two. MSU struggled to get stops when needed. Late turnovers and allowing Drake to shoot 60% in the fourth quarter prevented any hope of a comeback.
Three different players for Drake scored 15 or more points with Anna Miller and Grace Berg each scoring 19. Miller also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Jade Masogayo scored 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting for the Lady Bears with seven rebounds. Indya Green added 18 points.
Missouri State still finds itself in a good position to earn a top-four spot and a bye into the quarterfinal round of the MVC Tournament. The Lady Bears return to Springfield for a three-game homestand starting Sunday at 2 p.m. against Southern Illinois.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield NewsLeader. You can contact him at 417371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL .