Missouri State University’s Lady Bears basketball team is set to finish its regular season with two away games this week. The Lady Bears, who currently have an 18-11 record overall and a 10-6 mark in Conference USA (CUSA), will play Western Kentucky on Thursday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Their final regular season game will be against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, March 7 at 2:00 p.m. at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Missouri State is currently tied for second place in the CUSA standings with FIU and Middle Tennessee. Both Missouri State and FIU are scheduled to travel to Middle Tennessee this weekend.
The Lady Bears lead the all-time series against Western Kentucky by a narrow margin of 5-4. Earlier this season, Missouri State defeated Western Kentucky 75-52, with four players scoring double digits and the team out-rebounding their opponent by a significant margin.
Kaemyn Bekemeier has been a key contributor for Missouri State throughout the season, leading the team with averages of 17.4 points per game (ppg), 8.1 rebounds per game (rpg), and making 53 three-pointers. On February 21, Bekemeier reached her 1,000th career point, becoming just the 32nd player in program history to do so. She is one of only eleven NCAA Division I players this season with at least 500 points and 235 rebounds, and among players under six feet tall she ranks near the top nationally for rebounds per game.
Another standout performer has been sophomore Lainie Douglas from Overland Park, Kansas. Douglas was named CUSA Player of the Week after averaging twenty points, nine-and-a-half rebounds, and three blocks per game during recent wins over Sam Houston and FIU. Over her last three games she has averaged nearly twenty-three points and more than ten rebounds while maintaining high shooting percentages from both the field (.722) and free throw line (.762). Douglas leads CUSA in field goal percentage at .565 and ranks twenty-third nationally.
As a team, Missouri State ranks within the top fifteen nationally for free throws made per game (eighth) and free throw attempts per game (twelfth). They also lead CUSA in free throw percentage at seventy-five point two percent—good enough for sixty-first nationwide—with Bekemeier ranking among national leaders in both makes (eleventh) and attempts (sixteenth).
During Coach Cunningham’s tenure, Missouri State has excelled when hitting key benchmarks: “In the Cunningham era, Missouri State is 55-7 when scoring 70+ points, 64-5 when holding opponents to 65 points or less and 49-1 when opponents score less than 60 points.” However, they have not won any games this year when allowing seventy or more points.
The Lady Bears have demonstrated strong second-half performances throughout their schedule: “MoState is +9 on the scoreboard in the first half this season but flips the switch at the break to own a +124 point differential against its opponents in the second half of games.”
Rebounding remains another decisive factor; Missouri State holds a seventeen-and-three record when out-rebounding their opponents but just one win against eight losses otherwise.
Fans can follow both upcoming games via ESPN+, radio broadcasts or live stats through official channels provided by Missouri State Athletics.
