MSU Sports Information - Ben Adamson
SPRINGFIELD, MO - The Missouri State Lady Bears posted a season-best plus-25 rebounding margin and avenged January loss to Wichita State with an 85-67 victory over the Shockers Friday in front of a season-high 4,075 fans at JQH Arena.
Missouri State (16-6, 9-3) moved into a tie for the Missouri Valley Conference lead with WSU (15-8, 9-3) while extending its winning streak to seven games.
Sophomore Karly Buer posted career highs of 27 points and seven assists while shooting 15-for-16 at the free throw line. Buer made her first 13 free throws before seeing her consecutive makes streak snapped at 30, the third-best at MSU and No. 11 all-time streak in the MVC. Her 15 makes in the game trail only games of 17 and 16 makes by Jackie Stiles for the MSU record.
The Lady Bears overcame a horrendous start for a six-point halftime lead with the help of 17 offensive rebounds in the first period and a 26-11 overall rebounding advantage. Missouri State finished the game with a 48-23 rebounding edge, including 23 offensive boards leading to a 23-5 edge in second-chance points.
Missouri State missed its first nine shots from the field and fell behind 9-1 before Buer connected on the team’s first field goal at the 15:13 mark. The Shockers connected on a three-pointer to lead 12-3 and shot 4-for-6 from long range in the half despite average just 2.9 makes per game for the season on 30.8 percent shooting.
The tables turned from there as the Lady Bears went on a 25-6 run to lead 28-18 with 4:50 on the clock. Jasmine Malone snagged consecutive offensive putbacks to pull MSU within a point at 14-13, and scored again for a 19-16 lead. WSU scored for 19-18, and the Lady Bears used a 9-0 run capped by a Jaleshia Roberson trey for a 10-point lead.
The Shockers countered with consecutive three-pointers, banking the second in at the shot clock buzzer for a 28-24 score, but Missouri State got two Buer free throws to lead 34-26 before WSU scored in the final seconds. Buer also extended her streak to seven straight games in double-figures with 10 points in the first stanza.
Christiana Shorter scored four straight MSU points early in the second half for a 42-33 lead with 16:51, the second bucket coming on a putback that moved her to 10th in school history in career rebounding.
She and Buer continued to be the catalysts for the Lady Bears, as Buer drained a three for a 45-36 lead, then scored seven straight MSU points to ward off the Shockers cutting the lead to seven, six and then five points. Her trey from the corner with 10:34 left made it 54-46, and Shorter’s three-point play with 8:25 remaining gave MSU its largest lead yet at 61-48.
Wichita State closed MSU’s to nine on two occasions and the second was met by a Casey Garrison layup to pass former Illinois State star Kristi Cirone for third in MVC history in career scoring. The senior followed with two more baskets around two Buer free throws for an 8-0 run that ended with the Lady Bears up 71-54 and 3:44 left in the game. Garrison scored 13 points in the contest for 2,150 in her career. The Shockers got no closer than 14 from there in allowing Missouri State to score 11 more points than any other WSU opponent this season.
Malone scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting, moving from 28th to 25th in MSU history in scoring, while grabbing seven rebounds and handing out four assists. Shorter totaled 13 points and 11 boards (8 offensive), for her 21st career double-double, while Whitney Edie matched her season high with seven rebounds.
MSU shot 45.3 percent overall and 56.3 percent in the second half, while WSU shot 43.6 percent.
The Lady Bears have a week off before hosting Evansville (5-18, 2-10) next Friday (Feb. 17) at 7:05 p.m.
