Missouri State women hold off late charge to defeat Illinois State 65-60

(From Missouri State University Athletics)

Despite not trailing during the final three quarters, Missouri State needed to hold off a hard-charging Illinois State squad in the final seconds Friday evening to earn a 65-60 victory against the Redbirds at JQH Arena.

The Lady Bears improved to 8-9 overall and 4-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play with their fourth consecutive win, while Illinois State dropped to 4-13 and 1-5 in MVC games in spite of a school and MSU opponent record eight 3-pointers from Taylor Stewart.

MSU never trailed after senior Lexi Hughes hit a jumper with 57 seconds left in the first quarter for a 13-12 advantage after the sixth lead change of the period. The Redbirds tied the score at 17-all with 6:52 remaining until halftime, but did not score again before the break as MSU closed on a 10-0 run with Liza Fruendt scoring the final eight points.

Fruendt opened the second half with another trey for a 13-0 run and 30-17 lead before ISU ended its seven-minute scoreless drought and then exceeded its first-half scoring output in just over five minutes to pull to 39-36 with 4:20 to play.

Lee Ann Polowy's 3-pointer made it 47-40 after three frames, and Stewart countered with five points to pull ISU within a basket at 47-45. MSU junior Aubrey Buckley scored the final four points of an 8-0 run in response to push the Lady Bears' lead back to double digits at 55-45, and Hughes hit a trey with 2:52 left for a 60-52 lead.

Stewart struck again with triples to cut the gap to 60-55 and 62-58, and the Redbirds added a layup with 16.8 ticks on the clock to close to 62-60. Hughes hit one of two free throws for 63-60 and the Lady Bears forced a turnover with less than a second to play before Fruendt sank two foul shots with 0.3 seconds remaining for the final margin.

Fruendt finished with 15 points, Hughes scored 13 and Alexa Willard added 11 for her seventh consecutive game in double figures. Willard also grabbed a season-high eight rebounds as one of five Lady Bears with at least six boards. MSU led the rebounding battle 46-37 and turned 21 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points.

MSU hosts Bradley (5-12, 1-5) at 2 p.m. Sunday. The 1992 Final Four team will be recognized at halftime of that contest.