Missouri State Lady Bears dominant in opening-round MVC Tournament game vs. Bradley

Wyatt D. Wheeler, Springfield News-Leader
·2 min read
Missouri State Lady Bears guard Aniya Thomas as the Lady Bears take on the Bradley Braves in the first round of the Women's Missouri Valley Conference in Moline, Ill on Thursday, March 9, 2023.
Missouri State Lady Bears guard Aniya Thomas as the Lady Bears take on the Bradley Braves in the first round of the Women's Missouri Valley Conference in Moline, Ill on Thursday, March 9, 2023.

The Missouri State Lady Bears are on to the Missouri Valley Conference quarterfinals after a dominant 71-53 win over Bradley on Thursday afternoon in Moline, Illinois.

The fifth-seeded Lady Bears will play the fourth-seeded Drake Bulldogs on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The two split their regular season matchups with the Bulldogs winning 83-63 in Des Moines on March 2.

The winner of Friday's matchup will play at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in the MVC semifinals against the winner between top-seeded Illinois State and eighth-seeded Murray State.

On Thursday, the Lady Bears were dominant in the paint en route to ending the Braves' season. MVC Freshman of the Year Jade Masogayo, Indya Green and Kennedy Taylor each finished with double-digit scoring games thanks to their inside presence. The Lady Bears outscored the Braves 44-16 in points in the paint.

Masogayo led the team with 19 points to go along with her seven boards. Green scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards. MSU won the rebounding battle 42-26.

Missouri State Lady Bears guard Isabelle Delarue as the Lady Bears take on the Bradley Braves in the first round of the Women's Missouri Valley Conference in Moline, Ill on Thursday, March 9, 2023.
Missouri State Lady Bears guard Isabelle Delarue as the Lady Bears take on the Bradley Braves in the first round of the Women's Missouri Valley Conference in Moline, Ill on Thursday, March 9, 2023.

Isabelle Delarue, who recently returned from injury, knocked down three 3's and finished with 11 points.

Defensively, the Lady Bears forced 18 turnovers and held the Braves to 37.8% from the field during a wire-to-wire victory. Bradley's season ends at 4-28 with a 1-19 record during MVC play.

In Missouri State's most recent game against Drake, the Lady Bears allowed 28 points in the first quarter and couldn't bounce back. The Bulldogs shot 56.9% from the field which was the second-highest a team shot against MSU all season.

MSU won the first game between the two on Jan. 28 with the Lady Bears winning 64-54. In that game, MSU held Drake to 38.6% from the field.

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.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State Lady Bears dominate Bradley at MVC Tournament