Kristy Larson poured in 14 points and freshman Katie Donovan snagged 12 rebounds, but the Southwest Missouri State Bears came from behind to upend the Illinois State womens basketball team, 59-55 Saturday afternoon at Redbird Arena.
Illinois State, 5-12, 3-6 in Missouri Valley Conference play, led by 13 at the half after shooting 50 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. Cold shooting took over after the intermission as the Bears went to a zone defense, and the Birds made just 6 of 29 in the second half. The Birds also missed some key free throw attempts down the stretch as SMS struggled to hold-off Illinois State.
SMS, 9-7 overall, 6-2 in the Valley, placed three players in double figures. Anne Cavey and Jennifer Lingor led all scorers with 16 points apiece, followed by Erica Vicente with 11.
Larsons 10 points and some smothering defense helped the Redbirds take a 33-20 halftime lead. ISU shot 50 percent and turned the ball over just five times, while the Bears made just 8 of 27 field goals for 30 percent and had seven turnovers. The Birds led 8-6 early before a Donovan free throw with 14:52 left started a 7-0 Redbird run featuring a layup by Taren OBrien, plus a jumper and two free throws by Larson. ISU had a nine-point lead and stretched it to 13.
We knew that they were going to come right at us in the second half, OBrien said. I think we needed a little more intensity and that made the difference. We didnt pick up our intensity in the second half and did not match theirs.
The Birds led 40-33 in last years game against SMS before the Bears put on a second-half sprint to win 81-69. SMS must have remembered that because, after ISU led 37-24 with 17:03 left, Carolyn Weirick keyed a 15-2 run over the next five minutes. Jenny Lingors third three-pointer of the game tied the score at 39-39 with 12:21 left.
Illinois State responded quickly after a time out. OBriens three-pointer gave the Redbirds back the lead, but Lingor hit a free throw then a three-pointer to put SMS up 44-42 with 8:45 left in the game. Larson tied it with a turn-around jumper. SMS scored the next five points, though, on a jumper by Vicente and a three-point play by Cavey.
Stacey White hit a three-pointer at 5:05 to cut the SMS lead to 49-47, but Vicentes back-door cut to the basket put the Bears back up four with 4:49 left. Donovan hit a free throw with 4:40 remaining to slice the lead to 51-48.
Clearly the second half was different than the first half, Redbird coach Jenny Yopp said. SMS fought very hard and is a very strong program. The changing defense they had was really a challenge for us. They gave us a hard punch that second half. We started settling for threes and rushing shots and never really got into the flow. Its tough to get into the flow in a zone if youre pushing it.
Illinois State continues its homestand next week with games against Northern Iowa on Friday and Bradley the following Sunday.
