The Standard

Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Chris Cox

There wasn't much of a statistical difference on paper between the Missouri State Lady Bears and their tightly contested opponent, Wichita State, before Saturday afternoon's game at JQH Arena.

Ultimately, having five players scoring in double-figures is what led the way for Missouri State in Saturday's 75-65 win over Wichita State.

The Lady Bears won in terms of points, rebounds, assists and turnovers, making their record now 8-17 overall and 4-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Lady Bears now stand alone in seventh place in the MVC.

Saturday's game was a part of the Breast Cancer of the Ozarks Pink Zone. In front of 5,409 fans, pink socks, shoelaces and hair ties were sported by the Lady Bears during the game and pink Nike shooter shirts were worn in warm ups.

"What a great win for our team today," said Lady Bears coach Nyla Milleson. "Our pink today was all about fighting and survival and our kids really battled hard, and they made several runs at us, and we were able to answer every one of them. This one was for all the people who have battles every day in their life and, in particular, those cancer survivors."

The lead constantly belonged to the Lady Bears, thanks to freshman guard Casey Garrison, who led the Lady Bears with 15 points. Not far behind was freshman forward Lacey Boshe with 14 and a team-high seven rebounds and freshman guard Jaleshia Roberson added 10.

Sophomore forward Jacque Griggs came off the bench to score 11 and senior guard Maggie Dwyer finished with 12.

Milleson said the ball movement between all positions was the main key in the win.

"We got out and ran, and we ran smart," she said. "We fed the ball to the post well, and our post made good decisions, and we made some extra passes. Again you're talking about a team that's young, and it's taking a little while, but I feel like there are really some pieces that are coming together."

Another key effort was at the foul line, where the Lady Bears were 21-of-25 (84 percent), and they matched their season high of 18 assists.

Center Marcy Sudbeck led Wichita State (10-15 overall, 2-12 MVC) with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. The Shockers' Daria Frazier led all scorers with 19.

The Lady Bears had a smooth game flow that was surfaced by Garrison and her constant passing. Garrison had three assists, and Roberson had a team-high six.

"We talked a lot about trying to not think about it," Garrison said. "I think it's starting to become a second nature to us, because that is what we do is we think about, 'if I take too long, what do I do?' and sometimes it might not be the right thing so we're just working on not thinking about it."

This was the first of the Lady Bears' last three home games.

Next weekend Evansville, ninth in the MVC, will travel to Springfield for a 7:05 Friday night game. Southern Illinois, eighth in the MVC, then pays a visit on Sunday for a 2:05 p.m. matchup.

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