New Year's Eve Sports Wrap: Bears win, Lady Bears lose final games of 2011

??? SPRINGFIELD -- Missouri State (9-5, 2-0) shot a season-best 60.4 percent from the field and got 22 points from a red-hot Kyle Weems here Saturday afternoon to turn back Drake, 72-61, in Missouri Valley Conference play.

It was a league-best eighth straight conference win for the Bears who also got 14 points from Jarmar Gulley and 11 from Anthony Downing. Weems, who scored 31 points in Wednesday's win at No. 19 Creighton, was 10-for-12 from the field with a game-high 9 rebounds.

Drake (8-5, 1-1) got 16 points from Rayvonte Rice, who set the pace early with 14 points in the first half.

MSU turned its five-point halftime lead into a 41-32 advantage just three-and-a-half minutes into the second half. With 16:32 left in the game, a jumper by Downing in transition created a nine-point lead and some breathing room for the Bears. ?The visitors continued to scrap, and crept back within one point of the lead three more times midway through the second stanza. However, after the under-12-minute media timeout, ?MSU used a 17-4 run during a seven-minute stretch to pull away for good.

Gulley scored seven points during that run, while Keith Pickens provided key defense and three-points to make it 64-50 with 3:40 to go. ?Downing and Michael Bizoukas made clutch free throws down the stretch, and the Bears improved to 20-1 all-time at home against Drake.

Pickens finished with 7 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals to go with a team-high 3 assists for MSU, which was 29-for-48 (.604) from the field. Coach Paul Lusk's team shot an impressive 15-for-23 (.652) in the second half to make the difference. The Bears were also an efficient 5-for-8 (.625) from beyond the arc, a season high, but missed eight free throws in the second half to finish 9-for-17 (.529) for the game. ?MSU also out-rebounded the Bulldogs by a 32-23 margin, and both sides committed just eight turnovers.

Drake finished 23-for-50 (.460) from the field and 4-of-11 (.364) from bonus distance. Like the Bears, the Bulldogs struggled at the charity stripe with an 11-for-21 (.524) afternoon.

Ben Simons added 14 points for the Bulldogs, while Jordan Clarke tallied 10 points and a team-high six rebounds for the visitors.

In the first half, Weems scored 14 points to help the Bears build a 34-29 advantage. MSU fell behind 16-8 in the first six-and-a-half minutes before reserve Corey Copeland got things going for the home club. Copeland knocked down a three-pointer to cut the Bears' deficit to five before making it a 16-13 game on a spin move to the basket on the next MSU possession.

Weems tied the game at the 5:14 mark on a short jumper to make it a 22-22 game. When the Bears later fell behind 25-24, Weems reeled off five unanswered points to build a 29-25 lead for Missouri State. The Topeka, Kan., native then upped the MSU advantage to seven points on his second trey of the half at the 1:17 mark.

Drake then tacked on a jumper by Kurt Alexander just before the intermission to make it a 34-29 game.

Missouri State continues league play Wednesday (Jan. 4) at 7:05 p.m. against Illinois State. The Redbirds are 9-3 overall and 1-0 in the league headed into their Sunday showdown at Southern Illinois.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa?-- The Missouri State Lady Bears struggled shooting the ball from all areas of the floor and posted a season-low in points Saturday in a 62-54 loss at defending Missouri Valley Conference champion Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.

The Lady Bears (8-4, 1-1 MVC) mounted a furious rally in the second half, closing to one point after trailing by 14 with less than 10 minutes to play, but could not overcome 33.8 percent shooting from the field, 22.7 from three-point range and 35.7 from the foul line along with a 24-14 foul deficit.

UNI (8-5, 1-1) shot 42 percent and hit 10 more free throws than MSU while four players scored in double figures.

Missouri State opened the game 1-for-9 from the field with three turnovers that led to a 12-2 deficit 5:32 into the contest. The Panthers kept the lead between seven and 10 points for the next five minutes before?Aly Stock?and?Jasmine Malone?hit jumpers around a?Hannah Wilkerson?three-pointer to make it 17-14 Panthers with 9:40 remaining in the half.

UNI responded with a 9-0 run to open up its biggest lead at 26-14 before Malone stopped it with a trey and 5:52 on the clock, but Katelin Oney answered with a long ball of her own on the next possession to push UNI?s advantage back to 12 at 29-17.?Regan Soldner?andCasey Garrison?scored two quick baskets to close the gap to 29-21 as MSU held the Panthers scoreless for three minutes before a free throw made it 30-21 with 2:33 left.?

Karly Buer?s jumper closed the Panther lead to seven points, but UNI knocked in a pair of threes and ultimately went into halftime with a 36-25 lead as the Lady Bears shot 33 percent overall, 1-for-10 from the foul line and 2-for-11 from three-point land while being whistled for 13 fouls compared to eight for the Panthers in the first period. Meanwhile, UNI shot 48 percent and hit all six of its three-point attempts.

Nearly three minutes elapsed before either team scored in the second half and Rachel Madrigal hit a three-pointer with 16:41 left to give UNI its largest lead at 41-27. The Panthers kept the lead in double figures until?Jaleshia Roberson?drained a three-pointer with 7:37 to play for a 49-40 score.

UNI knocked down two free throws and Garrison hit back-to-back layups to pull MSU to 51-44 with 5:20 on the game clock. Another defensive stop led to Wilkerson?s running bank shot for a five-point deficit and two Garrison free throws did the same for a 53-48 score and 4:11 remaining.

Wilkerson then hit two free throws at 2:51 to get MSU within one possession at 55-52 and Garrison banked in a runner at 2:15 for a 55-54 score before UNI hit a layup and then a jumper following an ill-timed MSU turnover to go back up 59-54 with 1:22 left. The Lady Bears came up empty on their next three possessions and UNI hit three more free throws to close the game on a 7-0 run.

Garrison scored 18 points to go with eight rebounds, seven assists and four blocks to finish the game one point shy of 2,000 for her career. Wilkerson hit a career-high 12 points, Shorter pulled down nine rebounds and Soldner had seven boards, though UNI held a 44-38 lead in that category.

Missouri State did limit itself to 11 turnovers while forcing 18.

The Lady Bears play their first home MVC game against Creighton (6-6, 0-1) at 7:05 p.m. Thursday. CU opened league play Saturday with a 47-44 home loss to Drake

Source: http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-saturday-local-sports-headlines-20111231,0,7913838.story?track=rss

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