Get to know the new players on the Missouri State Lady Bears' roster entering 2022-23

Beth Cunningham's roster as she begins her time as the Lady Bears' head coach is a little different than the one Amaka Agugua-Hamilton took over when she was first hired. Cunningham had to construct a roster around a few remaining pieces while hoping to keep Missouri State in Missouri Valley Conference championship contention.

Cunningham's roster features seven newcomers including four different transfers who come from the likes of Kansas, Dayton and Colorado.

Here's a look at the new players on the Lady Bears' roster and what they and Cunningham had to say:

Aniya Thomas (senior)

After four years at Kansas which ended with a trip to the NCAA Tournament, Thomas decided she wanted to find a new coach to learn from and will likely end up being the Lady Bears' starting point guard this year.

Thomas started 16 games for the Jayhawks last season and averaged 8.5 points and 2.5 rebounds. She will be counted on to score more for the Lady Bears this season.

"The kid is fast and she can play fast and she can defend," Cunningham said. "We want to push the tempo as much as possible. Just with her experience and her ability to handle the ball, I think we'll need her to step up a little more as a scorer for us than she was at Kansas but she can do that. She's worked really hard at her ability to shoot it and that's something that she's gotta be really consistent with while at the same time, finding people, too."

More:What Beth Cunningham and the Lady Bears said during Missouri State basketball's 2022-23 media day

Thomas is excited about the opportunity to be a point guard. She said she hasn't been too much of a floor general since she was ranked as the No. 122 prospect in the country out of high school in Duncanville, Texas.

"I'm just trying to relearn all the stuff that I used to do because at Kansas, I played more on the wing," Thomas said. "But being a floor general in college is different than anything. I'm just learning how to be a leader and lead by example, be more direct and be more vocal and speak to people on the team and tell them what they need to do. I'm learning more and more and adapting to it and just taking it and improving day by day."

Capria Brown (junior)

Brown almost made the decision to transfer to Central Michigan until she received a last-second phone call from new Lady Bears assistant Olivia Applewhite, who was one of her assistants at Dayton. Applewhite asked Brown if she had any interest in transferring to Missouri State. Brown accepted and is now in a Lady Bears uniform.

The junior spent the last two seasons at Dayton where she averaged two points and 2.2 rebounds per game in 24 appearances as a sophomore. Out of high school, she was the No. 61 recruit in the nation and was a two-time state champion, four-time all-state performer and a McDonald's All-American nominee out of Schlarman Academy in Danville, Illinois.

Thomas is going into this season hoping to make her presence felt on the defensive side of the court.

"My biggest focus is defense so I'll do anything I have to do because I know I want to be the best I can be defensively for not only myself but for my team," Thomas said. "If I gotta do the dirty work like dive on the floor, I'll do it. I'll do just about anything to get the win."

Kennedy Taylor (sophomore)

When the Lady Bears went after Taylor out of high school, she turned down Amaka Agugua-Hamilton to play for Colorado.

Taylor, a 6-foot-3 Shawnee Mission, Kansas, native, was homesick playing in Colorado and decided to enter the transfer portal. Cunningham and senior Sydney Wilson teamed up to make sure Taylor didn't turn down the Lady Bears this time.

At Colorado, Taylor appeared in eight games on an older team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Out of high school, she was the Kansas 6A Player of the Year and was ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the state.

More:After being overlooked, former Kickapoo star Indya Green is ready to shine at Missouri State

Wilson, a senior star for the Lady Bears, pointed to Taylor as the newcomer to keep an eye on heading into the year as someone who will be great in the post.

Indya Green (sophomore)

Green makes her return to Springfield after an All-American juco year at Moberly Area Community College. She averaged 18.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game.

The former Kickapoo standout and 2021's Class 6 player of the year enjoyed a remarkable career as a Lady Chief where she became the school's all-time leading scorer and averaged 19.5 points and 12.1 rebounds as a senior.

At 5-foot-11, she was overlooked the first time she was hoping to be recruited. Now she feels like she's in the right place at the right time.

"You never know what could come to you," Green said. "Whether the offer came to me now or last year, I just knew that it was divine timing. It was meant for me."

As far as how her game will translate to the Division I level, Cunningham looked to how close Green's numbers looked from her high school game to those she put up when she played at the juco level for a year.

"I don't think there's a substitute for kids that can score and just have a knack for rebounding the ball," Cunningham said. "Obviously, she's a little undersized at 5-foot-10. I wish she was 6-foot-3 but if she was 6-foot-3, everybody in the country would want her, too. She's somebody that can come in and fill a void for us. We're not returning much scoring and she has the ability to put the ball in the basket and rebound. I think her versatility will really help us and I've been really pleased with her."

Jaiden Bryant (freshman)

Bryant comes to Springfield after being a four-year starter for Incarnate Word Academy, perhaps the best high school basketball program in the state, where she won three state championships.

As a senior, Bryant averaged 4.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game as a 5-foot-9 guard. She was a second-team all-conference selection as a junior.

Jade Masogayo (freshman)

Masogayo is a 6-foot-3 standout from Fossil Ridge High in the Dallas area where she averaged 13.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game as a senior while shooting 59% from the field. She was named the District 4-6A Defensive Player of the Year — the second time in her career she won the award.

"She's perfect for our offense," Cunningham said. "It reminds me a little bit when I was coaching, this is a terrible expectation on her, stylistically like a Brianna Turner as someone who is long, lanky and can run. She's nowhere near Brianna Turner yet, but stylistically, the types of things that Bree did for us is that we lifted our five and had the versatility of being able to get out and run. It's really going to be good out of ball-screen action and dribble handoffs and things like that."

Khloe Moad (freshman)

A local prospect, Moad joins the Lady Bears after four years at Ash Grove High where she ranked third all-time in career points and rebounds. She surpassed the 1,500-point mark last season and earned all-state honors during her senior season.

The McDonald's All-American nominee averaged 16.3 points and 8.5 rebounds as a senior and was named the Class 3 District 11 Player of the Year as a junior with similar numbers.

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 Lady Bears new basketball players under Beth Cunningham