OPINION |
College basketball coaches are not difficult to Christmas shop for. Give them a victory or three headed into the holiday break and they’re happy as can be.
Missouri State Lady Bears coach Beth Cunningham will be smiling during the holiday break thanks to a three-game winning streak from her team. Best of all is the upside of what could be ahead in the new year.
“We’ve had a difficult schedule and it’s gonna take a little bit of time, but I’m pleased with the progress we’re making,” Cunningham said following a 56-55 home-court victory over BYU, a quality Big 12 Conference opponent, Dec. 20.
“Our best days are ahead of us,” the second-year Lady Bears head coach added.
MSU nearly blows 15-point lead in win over Western Kentucky
Adding onto the win over BYU — the best opponent they’ve played this season — was another one-point win on Dec. 21. The Lady Bears held off Western Kentucky 69-68, nearing blowing a 15-point fourth-quarter lead.
Missouri State is 6-3 with a three-game winning streak heading into the break. Cunningham noted that her team is light years from playing at its full potential, evidenced by the narrow escape against Western Kentucky after a late-game scoring drought against BYU.
That is all stressful and exciting, at the same time.
“It took a little bit of air out of the sails the way it finished there, but it’s better than the alternative,” Cunningham said after Thursday’s game, in which Western Kentucky scored 31 fourth-quarter points. “We’ll take the win. But just sloppy, sort of an undisciplined fourth quarter.
“To give up 31 points at the end … some of it was they stepped up making plays, but I didn’t think we did a good job of taking care of the ball. Some bad decisions. And the last thing you can do is give them threes and put them at the free-throw line. We were doing both.”
Victories will help Lady Bears in conference play
But in the bigger picture, Missouri State won the inaugural Lady Bears Classic and logged some valuable minutes against good competition. With a mix of veterans and eight newcomers, the Lady Bears open Missouri Valley Conference play on Dec. 30 at home against Northern Iowa.
“These games are really gonna help us in conference play,” Cunningham said. “Every night it’s a challenge, it’s a battle, it’s different styles of play. That’s what we’re gonna see in conference play. You have to be able to flip your mindset in a hurry and be able to focus on the new game plan and adjust.”
Stokes helps team dig out of early hole against WKU
Which they didn’t do right away. Twenty-four hours after beating BYU, the Lady Bears (6-3) turned the ball over three times and nearly had three shot-clock violations in the first three minutes against Western Kentucky. They missed four of their first five shots in falling behind 7-2.
Missouri State was all out of sorts, especially when point guard Lacy Stokes, a 5-foot-4 bundle of basketball energy who transferred from Missouri Southern, had to sit out the rest of the quarter with a cut to the right side of her head that didn’t want to stop bleeding.
The Lady Bears fell behind by nine in her absence and eventually trailed 15-9 as the quarter mercifully ended. Stokes, from nearby Mount Vernon, returned to start the second quarter and scored on a floater in the lane. That lit a spark that turned into a 12-0 fire that turned the game.
“I think it knocked some sense into me,” Stokes said with a laugh afterward. “Maybe it just takes a little head-butt to get going.”
‘If we were playing our best basketball right now, that would be a little bit of a problem'
The Lady Bears made it to halftime in front 31-25 after outscoring Western Kentucky 22-10 in the quarter. They controlled the second half, opening a 55-40 lead midway through the fourth quarter, and then almost gave it away.
There were mistakes on both ends. Too many fouls, poor offensive possessions and surrendering open 3-point looks during an insufferable final five minutes that seemed to last about five days.
But Stokes, who led the Lady Bears with 16 points, put things in proper perspective.
“If we were playing our best basketball right now, that would be a little bit of a problem,” Stokes said.
Lady Bear Classic a fix for scheduling problems
Early season progress has been slow to come by, partly because of the Lady Bears’ schedule. With 20 Missouri Valley Conference games awaiting, they’ve played fewer games than most of their non-conference opponents. The quality of competition has been good, with road losses to the likes of Oklahoma State and Missouri.
The formation of the Lady Bears Classic was a way to add a couple of home games against good teams. Cunningham said the event came together late in the scheduling process.
“We were having a difficult time scheduling,” Cunningham said. “We had enough road games, but we were having trouble getting people to start a home and home at our place. We were just trying to be creative and threw it out there to see if anybody would bite on it.
“I think with the transfer portal, scheduling got backed up even more. A lot of schools were still looking for games. People liked the idea of being able to get one if not two neutral-site games. It was a great opportunity for us to get two home games, which we badly needed.”
Heading into the holidays on a high note
And even better to win them. On the heels of a hard-fought victory over Wichita State last weekend, the Lady Bears earned successive wins for the first time this season by beating BYU, then added to the holiday cheer on Thursday.
“This was really good for us going into the holiday break,” said forward Kennedy Taylor, who had 11 points and seven rebounds against Western Kentucky. “I can’t wait to get back and get started in the conference.
“We need to work out the kinks that we have. I feel like, as a team, we're holding each other accountable and we're pushing each other to be the best version of ourselves we can be.”
‘Collectively we're getting better'
The next step — after enjoying Christmas — will be to keep the momentum rolling. Missouri State opens Valley play at home on Dec. 30 against Northern Iowa. It doesn’t return to the road until Jan. 11, so there’s a good chance for the winning streak to keep growing.
Whether that leads to contending for a Valley championship, who knows?
At the least, this should be a team that continues to evolve and improve as the long journey toward March rolls on.
“We’ve had a ton of improvement,” Cunningham said. “If you look at the nine games, from the start to where we’re at right now, I think our kids individually have improved a lot. Collectively we’re getting better. Kids are getting more confident at understanding roles.
“Certainly you want to be on the upswing heading into conference play. We felt like coming out of finals week, we had three games. This was a big stretch for us. For us to come away 3-0, I couldn’t be happier.”
