The Missouri State Lady Bears were one bounce of the basketball on a rim away from the NCAA Tournament. That bounce instead went Drake’s way.
Anna Miller’s shot at the buzzer rolled around the rim and fell in to give the top-seeded Bulldogs a 76-75 victory over third-seeded Missouri State on Sunday, March 17, in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title game in Moline, Illinois.
The basket sent Drake to the NCAA Tournament and the Lady Bears to the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament (WBIT). Missouri State will play at Illinois on Thursday, March 21. A game time was not immediately announced.
Missouri State comeback wrecked in 2.6 seconds
Miller’s game winner offset the heroics of Missouri State’s Lacy Stokes, who made a running jumper from the lane with 2.6 seconds remaining, to put her team on the verge of the championship.
Stokes’ basket gave the Lady Bears their first lead of the game and capped a comeback from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Drake called timeout after Stokes’ basket, meaning the Bulldogs were able to advance the ball to mid-court to inbound for the final play. Taylor McAuly inbounded to Courtney Becker in the corner and the Lady Bears, with one foul to give, did not foul. Becker got the ball to the 6-foot-3, left-handed Miller inside, where her turn-around jumper fell in.
“Just a heartbreaker,” Missouri State coach Beth Cunningham said in the postgame news conference. “We gave ourselves a chance. A heck of a team, Drake is.”
Cunningham said she didn’t discuss using the foul in the time out before the final possession. “I felt like they were going to go in, to Miller. I thought we could get one stop. It’s one of those situations where you’re going to constantly second-guess everything you did, not just at the end of the game, but throughout the game.
“I thought we put ourselves in a position to win it. They stepped up and made a play.”
Lady Bears looked to Stokes in the waning moments
Miller led Drake (29-5) with 25 points on 11-for-12 field-goal shooting.
Missouri State (23-9) was led by Kennedy Taylor with 22 points, Indya Green with 17 and Stokes’ 16. The Lady Bears had been 5-0 this season in games decided by one or two points.
Stokes, the league’s Newcomer of the Year, played all 40 minutes and finished with seven assists and six steals. She had 14 steals in her three tournament games, the second most in MVC tourney history.
Of her go-ahead shot, Stokes said she knew her teammates had confidence in her taking the shot. Stokes hit a game-winning shot earlier in the season against Northern Iowa and two deciding free throws two nights earlier in the tourney against Murray State.
“Usually when we get into those situation, I know that if I go up, I have three or four girls going for the rebound and I have confidence in them to get a put-back.
The Lady Bears had a tough time defending Drake early as the Bulldogs made 11 of 15 shots in the first quarter to take a 24-15 lead.
Back came Missouri State, holding the Bulldogs to only three field goals in the second quarter.
Green knocked down a 3-pointer three minutes into the second quarter to cut Drake’s lead to 26-24. Later in the quarter, Taylor’s three-point play drew the Lady Bears within 32-31 but the Bulldogs went to the half with a 38-35 lead.
Drake capitalized on early momentum
Much like the start of the game, the third quarter went poorly for the Lady Bears. Drake’s Anna Miller scored the first nine and the Bulldogs went in front 47-35, forcing Cunningham to burn a time out to settle down her team.
“Our start at the beginning of the game really hurt us and our start at the beginning of the third quarter really hurt us,” Cunningham said.
Missouri State was able to cut the lead to 57-50 before Drake’s Courtney Becker drove for a layup in the final second of the quarter to make it a nine-point game.
Drake extended the lead to 14 before the Lady Bears used a 12-0 run to get within 70-68 with 3 ½ minutes to go. Stokes swished two free throws with 2:48 left to tie it at 70-all.
Miller scored on the other end to put the Bulldogs back in front and Missouri State turned it over on its next possession. Then it was Miller, again, scoring for Drake with 1:40 to play.
Basketball is seldom decided by a single play
Paige Rocca’s 3-pointer brought Missouri State back within one and a Drake shot-clock violation with 12 seconds remaining gave the Lady Bears a chance to win it.
“Our kids kept battling and kept getting stops and put us in a position where we could win it,” Cunningham said. “Kids stepped up and made plays. Unfortunately, they made one more play than we did.”
Stokes’ runner from the lane with 2.6 seconds on the clock gave Missouri State its first lead of the day and a shot that appeared to be one sending the Lady Bears back to the NCAA Tournament for an 18th time.
“It doesn’t come down to that last play,” Cunningham said. “That’s the last play that we are going to remember. She made a great shot. I don’t think we could have played it any better. She stepped up and made a play.
“The reality is, there were a lot of other things that probably along the way that could have contributed to what was the difference in the game.”
