by LAWRENCE, Kan. — Missouri State out-scored the Kansas Jayhawks by 20 points in the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon on the way to an 87-64 win inside historic Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas native Lexi Hughes scored 22 points and added a career-high eight rebounds to lead four Lady Bears (1-1) in double figures.
Missouri State closed the first quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 17-11 after the first period, and trailed the Jayhawks (0-1) for less than two minutes for the remainder of the game despite several rallies from the home team.
Freshman Brice Calip (Muscogee Creek Nation) scored two of her 14 points to give MSU a 21-13 lead early in a wild second quarter that saw the Jayhawks tie the score five times but never take the lead. The Lady Bears went ahead 37-30 on an Alexa Willard layup shortly before half, and KU tied the score at 37 with a 7-0 run before Hughes buried one of her four treys for a 40-37 lead at the break.
The Jayhawks knocked down a triple for a 44-43 advantage two minutes into the second half, and another Hughes trey with 4:41 left in the third quarter gave the Lady Bears a 48-45 lead they would not relinquish.
Missouri State held a 55-52 advantage entering the fourth quarter, stretched it to 64-56 on Audrey Holt‘s 3-pointer from the left corner with 7:39 remaining, and got five points from Fruendt in the decisive 9-0 run that pushed the lead to 73-58 with 4:50 left as the Lady Bears shot 11-for-17 in the final period and owned a 28-16 rebounding margin after halftime.
Fruendt finished with 18 points and Aubrey Buckley added 10 in Kellie Harper‘s 57th win in 100 games as MSU head coach. MSU shot 32-for-60 (.533) in the game and 8-for-15 from long range while holding the Jayhawks to 25-for-70 overall and 25.7 percent in the second half. The Lady Bears won the final rebounding battle, 44-35.
MSU continues its season-opening road trip Wednesday with a 7 p.m. game at Northwestern.
