After a 23-13 record last season, the Missouri State University Lady Bears seem eager to get back on the court.
They’ll start off strong with an in-state game at Southeast Missouri State on November 2. The Lady Bears have gone head-to-head against SEMO a total of 15 times holding the record 13-2. Last season they came away with a win ending in a 77-49 final score.
After SEMO, the Lady Bears will travel to Wyoming for the first time ever on November 7 to face the Cowboys. The Cowboys had a difficult season last year ending with a 10-20 overall record playing ninth in the Mountain West Conference.
Following Wyoming, the Lady Bears will go head-to-head with old Missouri Valley Conference rivals the Wichita State Shockers three days later. This is the fourth year in a row that the Lady Bears have gone against the Shockers, winning last season's matchup 66-57.
Three days after that, the Lady Bears will be back at home in Great Southern Bank Area to face Marquette, the first time the two teams will meet since the 1994-95 season.
The Lady Bears will kick off a 23-day away game stretch with another in-state matchup against the Saint Louis Billikens on November 18. This will be the fifth straight season the two have faced each other.
Missouri State will then have three straight neutral site matchups beginning with Kansas City on November 22 at the 28.5 Hoops Women’s Invitational. After that, the Lady Bears will sail down south to Cancun for the Cancun Challenge November 26 and 27.
The team will face Minnesota during their time in Mexico. The Golden Gophers had a breakout season last year sailing all the way to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Women’s March Madness Tournament until falling to UCLA, which later became the champion.
Closing out their away-game stretch, the Lady Bears will head to Allen Fieldhouse, home of the Kansas Jayhawks, on December 3. Last season, the Jayhawks took the matchup by three points in overtime.
After facing the Jayhawks, the Lady Bears will finally be back home to face Central Arkansas on December 6, North Dakota on the 12 and UT Arlington on the 16 before traveling south to face the Arkansas Razorbacks on the 19 of December.
And to wrap up their non-conference schedule, Missouri State women’s basketball will be back in GSB to face Austin Peay just three days before Christmas for the first time in program history.
There is a lot to look forward to next season with the Lady Bears after a successful last season — their first in Conference-USA.
And they surely made their mark.
Coach Beth Cunningham led the team to their first-ever Conference-USA Tournament Championship. They went dancing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022 and the first time with Coach Cunningham as head coach.
Guard Kaemyn Bekemeier will be going into her senior season with the Bears after having an outstanding season last year. The Republic High School alum played all 36 games last season with 35 of them being stars and averaged 17.4 points per game.
Another familiar face back on the roster this season is Lainie Douglas. Douglas is also coming off a breakout season as the now junior put up 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Lots of eagerness about this new upcoming schedule for the Lady Bears as they put in work for the off season to continue making a name for themselves and Missouri State women’s athletics.
To see more about the new upcoming schedule and ticket sales, visit missouristatebears.com.
