The Missouri State Lady Bears close a dominating 2019 with an easy 111-39 win over Division II William Jewell College at JQH Arena.
The Lady Bears have picked up 31 wins in calendar year 2019, going on a tear last season that saw them fall just short of winning the Missouri Valley Conference, then taking the Valley Tournament title and advancing all the way to the NCAA Sweet 16.
This season, under new Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, MSU has fnished non conference play with a 10-2 record and ranked 19 in the USA Today Coach’s Poll and 21st in the Associated Press women’s basketball poll.
Missouri State is now 34-5 overall since December 20th, 2018, ranking seventh nationally in total wins since that date.
On this date, December 31st, 2019, MSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the Cardinals and extended it to 13-4.
The Lady Bears went ahead 47-21 at halftime, then went on a 10-0 run spanning just under four minutes in the third quarter.
Missouri State held a 77-33 advantage heading into the final ten minutes of play as everyone got into the scoring act, including freshman Trinity Knapp, who drained her first two three pointers of the year.
With 4:46 left in the game, Mya Bhinhar hit a layup that put the Lady Bears at 100 points for the game.
MSU went on to post its second highest point total in team history.
Senior Shameka Ealy led six Lady Bears in double figure scoring with 16 points, while senior Alexa Willard scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting.
The Lady Bears shot 56% from the floor as a team. scored ten points to lead the Cardinals (5-5).
Lea Finn’s 11 points led William Jewell (5-4).
Missouri State will open Missouri Valley Conference play Friday afternoon with a 3:00 p.m. tip-off at Loyola.
Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton talked to the media after her team’s history making performance.
Game Notes:
The most points scored by the Lady Bears came on November 13th, 1998 in a 120-65 win against Davidson at Hammons Student Center.
The 72 point win is the largest margin of victory in Missouri State history, surpassing a 68 point win at Southwest Baptist University on February 10th, 1975.
The Lady Bears also broke their single game blocked shot record with 15 swats. The previous record was 12 against UNI on January 20th, 1991.
Tuesday’s announced attendance at JQH Arena was 2,245.
