A look at the Missouri State Lady Bears' non-conference schedule heading into 2023-24
Lady Bears basketball begins in less than a week. Beth Cunningham's squad will look to get off to a better start in non-conference play than it did a year ago.
Missouri State's non-conference slate this year presents challenges but also allows some room for growth early in the year instead of having its most difficult challenges from the start.
Nov. 6 @ Little Rock
The Trojans are coming off a 21-11 season that included a 55-48 loss at Missouri State on Dec. 21. Aniya Thomas scored 19 points for the Lady Bears with Kennedy Taylor adding 13. The Lady Bears outrebounded Little Rock 41-25.
Little Rock was picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference heading into the year. Senior guard Tia Harvey and sophomore Faith Lee are Preseason All-OVC performers. The two combined for 31 points against MSU last year while all others combined for 17.
More: Who is on the Missouri State Lady Bears roster heading into 2023-24 season?
Nov. 15 @ Saint Louis
Saint Louis is coming off a 17-18 season that included a 71-55 loss to the Lady Bears in Springfield on Nov. 15. Isabelle Delarue led the Lady Bears with 18 points with Thomas and Indya Green each scoring 14. The Lady Bears doubled up SLU on the boards 52-26.
Three Billikens were named to preseason all-conference teams as SLU was picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10. Kyla McMakin is the Billikens' standout and she went for 17 points on 7 of 24 shooting against MSU a year ago.
Nov. 22 vs. SEMO
SEMO went 16-15 last year and is the first team on the Lady Bears' schedule that they didn't play last season. The home opener will put MSU against a team that lost to the likes of Evansville and Little Rock in convincing fashions.
The Redhawks were picked to finish fifth in the OVC with Jaliyah Green being the lone player selected to the preseason all-conference team. She averaged 10.5 points on 41.8% shooting last season.
More: Meet the Missouri State Lady Bears' newcomers entering the 2023-24 season
Nov. 26 @ Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State went from 9-20 to being a 21-12 team last season that lost by one to Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before the Hurricanes went on to play in the Elite Eight. The Cowgirls are on the rise heading into Jacie Hoyt's second season as head coach.
The Cowgirls were picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 heading into this year after ending up fourth a year ago. Lior Garzon is a standout who broke out last season by hitting 80 shots from deep.
The Cowgirls won 73-54 against the Lady Bears last season in Springfield with Thomas scoring 18 and Green adding 12. The entire Oklahoma State starting lineup from that game is no longer on the roster.
Dec. 1 vs. Tulane
Tulane went 18-14 last season and fell 80-62 in a neutral-site game against Northern Iowa. Its season ended in a first-round WNIT loss at Auburn.
The Green Wave has made three consecutive WNITs and was picked to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference. They return eight players from last year's team including Kyren Whittington who averaged 11.9 points on 44% shooting. Tulane added size in the offseason which includes a pair of 6-foot-3 freshmen centers and 6-foot-1 Columbia grad transfer Hannah Pratt.
More: Now a Lady Bear, Mount Vernon's Lacy Stokes is still out to prove her doubters wrong
Dec. 6 @ Mizzou
The Lady Bears' trip north will come after a little bit of time to develop this year instead of opening the season against the Tigers like they did a year ago in a 68-51 loss. MSU is going to look totally different than it did in that game last season.
Mizzou was picked to finish 11th in the SEC Preseason Media Poll. The team's two standouts heading into the year are southwest Missouri natives in Strafford legend Hayley Frank as she enters her final year of eligibility along with former West Plains standout Ashton Judd who had great moments in her true freshman year.
Mizzou will have two of its starters back from its win over the Lady Bears last season. Frank, a Preseason All-SEC selection, is the Tigers' best player. She scored 17 points and grabbed four boards in Springfield.
Dec. 16 vs. Wichita State
The Shockers return to the Lady Bears' schedule for the first time since 2019. WSU is coming off an 18-15 season that ended in the first round of the WNIT.
Wichita State was picked to finish 11th out of the 14 teams in the American. It is in its first year under head coach Terry Nooner who was recently the associate head coach at Kansas. Senior guard D.J. McCarty will be his best player after she started 32 games at point guard last season and finished third on the team in scoring with 10.5 points per game.
More: What has Beth Cunningham excited for her second year as Missouri State Lady Bears coach
Dec. 20 vs. BYU
Before Christmas break, the Lady Bears will host the "Lady Bear Classic" which will bring BYU, Western Kentucky and Nevada to Springfield for a women's basketball showcase at Great Southern Bank Arena.
The Lady Bears will play the Cougars who went 16-17 last year and lost a first-round WNIT game. They were picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 preseason poll while returning all five of their starters. Lauren Gustin, in her final year of eligibility, appears to be the one to watch after she averaged 16.7 rebounds per game last season. She's a Big 12 honorable mention selection.
Dec. 21 vs. Western Kentucky
Non-conference ends with the Lady Toppers participating in the Lady Bear Classic. They went 19-14 last season and fell in the Conference USA championship game before playing in the WNIT.
Western Kentucky, along with Liberty, was picked to finish second in the CUSA entering the year. The Lady Toppers have two preseason all-conference selections in Acacia Hayes, who led WKU in scoring as a freshman last year, and Alexis Mead who is the Lady Toppers' starting point guard.
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State Lady Bears schedule: A look at non-conference 2023-24
