COLUMBIA, Mo. — Seniors Elle Ruffridge and Brice Calip led the way Monday as No. 20 Missouri State beat in-state rivals Missouri, 72-58.
Ruffridge and Calip notched 18 points each, but in unusual ways.
Long-distance savant Ruffridge shot 6-9 from the field, though with only one triple.
Meanwhile, Calip was 2-9 from the field, but 13-14 from the free throw line in the win.
This marks the Lady Bears first ever win in Mizzou Arena and first win in Columbia since December, 2003.
“I take a lot of pride in preparing our team to own this state,” Head Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “That’s something that we talk about a lot. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. Last year we had a couple of teams UMKC and Mizzou that we had to play. This year Mizzou was really the only one in state that we were playing. And I just wanted to make a statement as usual. And make sure we came into this game super focused. Did we play our best game? No. It was kind of an ugly win for us but I’ll take this any day.”
The Lady Bears improve to 4-1 with the victory, but with the difficulty only ramping up in their next outing.
Next on the docket, South Dakota State (3-2) comes to Springfield after recently dropping out of the AP Top-25 poll.
Tip-off between the Lady Bears and Jackrabbits at JQH Arena is set for Saturday, December 19th at 1:00 pm.
