Missouri State Lady Bears stumble in critical Valley showdown at first-place Southern Illinois

Wyatt D. Wheeler, Springfield News-Leader

February 4, 2022 at 9:32 PM·3 min read

The Missouri State Lady Bears will enter what appears to be a must-win game at JQH Arena on Sunday if they want to continue their reign atop the Missouri Valley Conference at the season's end.

Missouri State (15-5, 6-3) lost 65-49 to first-place Southern Illinois (12-6, 7-1) on Friday night in Carbondale.

The Lady Bears now have three losses in the Valley this season when they had lost two combined in the previous two seasons under third-year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. They have been heavily impacted by injuries this season to All-Valley performers Jasmine Franklin and Abby Hipp — who are both out for the season due to ACL tears.

"There's a good meeting going on in our locker room," Agugua-Hamilton said during their postgame radio interview. "It's about heart at this time of year and our veterans need to step up and lead some of our younger ones."

A step toward trying to climb back into the Valley race will come Sunday when the Lady Bears host Southern Illinois at 5 p.m. at JQH Arena. The odd back-to-back scheduling comes after a postponement from earlier in the season.

Southern Illinois remains atop the league standings as the only team with one loss. Illinois State and Northern Iowa each have a pair of losses. Missouri State's three losses this season came against those above it in the standings.

"We're still in the hunt," Agugua-Hamilton said. "There's a lot of time left. We're still determined to win a championship this year and we know everyone's doubting us but I know what this team is made of."

Friday night's game saw the Lady Bears debut for Duke transfer Jennifer Ezeh — who sat out the first 19 games nursing a knee injury she suffered when she played in Durham, North Carolina. She played 15 minutes, grabbed four boards and made her only shot attempt of the night.

The Lady Bears were without standout guard Mariah White and freshman role player Isabelle Delarue.

Neither team led by more than six until Southern Illinois' Makenzie Silvey made a 3-pointer with 5:38 left in the game to go up by nine.

A timeout followed and both teams went cold from the field until Silvey hit another 3 to extend the Saluki lead to 58-46 with 2:41 remaining. She hit another 3 a minute later en route to pulling away and handing the Lady Bears a loss.

The Lady Bears finished the game shooting 37.3 percent and have only finished above 40 percent once in Valley play — shooting 50.8 percent against a dreadful Evansville team on Jan. 27 in an 82-35 win.

Turnovers plagued MSU throughout while tying a season-high 19. It ties the mark the Lady Bears set on opening night on Nov. 9 in a win at Little Rock.

Southern Illinois finished the game shooting 44 percent — the third-highest mark the Lady Bears have allowed this season. Entering the game, the Lady Bears ranked sixth in the nation in field goal percentage allowed at 36.4 percent. They are 4-4 when allowing opponents to shoot 40 percent or higher.

Brice Calip finished the game with 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting. Abi Jackson followed with 10 points and five boards.

"I think we ran out of gas and there are no excuses," Agugua-Hamilton said. "We've been through a lot, obviously. We just have to be ready to go on Sunday. They just didn't play too well today. We fought but at the end of the day, we didn't defend and we definitely didn't score like we should."

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State basketball: Lady Bears fall to Southern Illinois

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