The Missouri State Lady Bears didn’t end their regular season campaign the way they planned.
Beth Cunningham’s crew lost 86-67 to Northern Iowa, on Saturday, to lose back-to-back games for the first time since the Lady Bears lost to Valparaiso and Belmont in mid-January.
The maroon and white came out blazing in the first quarter. MSU hit five of their six shots – highlighted by a three-pointer from Paige Rocca – to give the team a six-point edge.
But by the second quarter, the Lady Bears were trying to play catchup. They only trailed by six at the half, but even with four of five starters scoring in double figures, MSU lost control of the game in the third quarter when they were outscored 21-10.
That opened the floodgates for the Panthers and the Lady Bears never recovered.
On top of swallowing the blowout loss, MSU’s lost dropped it to fifth in the final Missouri Valley Conference standings, which means the Lady Bears will have to play Bradley on Thursday, March 9 in the opening round of the conference tournament.
