January 11, 2007
Women’s Basketball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MISSOURI STATE SHOOTS WAY TO 83-76 VICTORY OVER INDIANA STATE

BOX SCORE (HTML)

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The Indiana State University Lady Sycamores dropped their third straight game and their first of the season on the home court Thursday night as the Missouri State Lady Bears rallied in the second half to defeat ISU 83-76.

“This is a tough loss for us,” ISU senior Rachel Maenpaa said. “We definitely need to learn how to put teams away. We just have to dig down to the very end and not let a team back into the game.”

The rebounding struggles continued for ISU as Missouri State outrebounded the Lady Sycamores 42-31.

“It all comes down to defensive rebounding,” Maenpaa said. “We got outrebounded and that cost us the game. That can’t happen, especially on the home court.”

It was a battle throughout the final 20 minutes of play. The Lady Sycamores led by as many as nine points early in the second half but could not maintain the momentum. Indiana State kept trying to get the ball inside as the Lady Bears attempted to shut down the ISU three point attack.

Missouri State went in front for the first time in the game with 9:50 remaining and never trailed. The Lady Bears upped their lead to eight several times but ISU kept fighting back. The Lady Sycamores trailed by three with five minutes left but could not get any closer.

“Unfortunately we are still a team that feeds off its offense,” ISU head coach Jim Wiedie said. “When we are not scoring, it shows our weaknesses. We are not a very good defensive team right now.”

ISU led by as many as 14 points in the first half but struggled in the final six minutes. Still the Lady Sycamores were able to take a 40-37 lead at the intermission.

Laura Rudolphi scored 23 points to lead Indiana State. The 6-2 junior center also took over second place in career blocks with four against Missouri State. She now has 82 career blocked shots. Maenpaa added 18 points and Leah Phillips 17 for ISU.

It was the first home loss of the season for Indiana State, who falls to 9-7 overall and 2-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Sycamores will try to rebound against Wichita State this Saturday in Hulman Center. Tip-off is set for 2:05 p.m.

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