Missouri State Lady Bears get their revenge over South Dakota State in defensive slugfest
Missouri State got its revenge over the Jackrabbits and it had to earn it.
The Lady Bears (6-2) came out on the winning end of a 55-52 defensive slugfest over South Dakota State (3-6) in Brookings, South Dakota, on Monday night. The teams are considered two of the top mid-majors in the country.
The win avenges the Lady Bears' 60-52 loss to the Jackrabbits nearly a year ago to the date. SDSU is the lone team to hand MSU a loss at JQH Arena in Amaka Agugua-Hamilton's three seasons as the Lady Bears' head coach.
The Lady Bears needed a special performance from their defense and one from Cleveland State transfer Mariah White to come away with the victory.
White scored 15 of her game-high 17 points in the second half while also coming away with four steals. SDSU turned the ball over a whopping 25 times during the game.
"Mariah is a seasoned player and she knew that we needed her," Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said during her postgame radio interview. "We needed her spark and she came in and she did that. I'm super proud of her."
The Lady Bears trailed by two heading into the fourth quarter but a quick 7-0 run to take a five-point lead. SDSU didn't score in the fourth quarter until there was 5:29 left as it cut MSU's lead to three.
White helped her new team pull away with back-to-back fastbreak layups off of turnovers to give the Lady Bears the biggest lead of the game at seven. SDSU didn't go away as it brought the game back within three with 44 seconds left.
Trying to take a two-possession lead, MSU had its shot blocked and the Lady Bears got the loose ball with 17.1 seconds left. After a few fouls, SDSU tied the ball up with 8.7 seconds left and took possession while down three.
On SDSU's game-tying 3-point attempt, Sydney Wilson blocked Tylee Irwin's shot and the Lady Bears rebounded the ball with two seconds remaining. With 1.3 seconds left, Franklin missed both of her free throws but the Jackrabbits couldn't make a miracle full-court shot to tie it up.
Missouri State still had some struggles offensively as it finished the game shooting 34.4 percent. It attempted 19 more shots than the Jackrabbits thanks to the turnovers. The Lady Bears scored 27 points off of turnovers compared to SDSU's 11.
Agugua-Hamilton said seniors Brice Calip and Mya Bhinhar were limited during the game due to illness. Calip scored four points on 1-of-7 shooting in 20 minutes while Bhinhar played 28 minutes with no points and five assists.
Agugua-Hamilton continues to be confident that the offense will come around.
"It is going to come because I see it in practice and I'll keep saying that because I know it's going to open up for us," Agugua-Hamilton said. "Until it does, we got to do other things. We gotta keep doing that and we've got to shoot the ball better."
One revenge game sets up for Missouri State's rivalry matchup with Mizzou at 7 p.m. on Friday at JQH Arena. The Lady Bears have won the last two matchups and "Coach Mox" said she wants to keep Missouri as the "Lady Bears' state."
"It's rivalry week," Agugua-Hamilton said. "We have to play better and get healthy and they will. We've descended at a high level and I have confidence on the defensive side and I have confidence on the defensive side. We have to get better this week and get healthy."
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 get revenge over SDSU
