'Fun ride' comes to an end for Missouri State women

The Lady Bears’ luck ran out on St. Patrick’s Day in Fort Worth, Texas. That didn’t stop Missouri State from displaying plenty of grit.

Road weary and banged-up, the Lady Bears started fast — but deadly shooting from three-point range by TCU buried Missouri State, 86-51, in the second round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. MSU’s season ends with a 21-12 mark. 

“We got a little frustrated, couldn’t find the basket, I mean couldn’t get a shot to go in,” head coach Kellie Harper said on the postgame radio show. “They shot the heck out of the ball, obviously, and it just got easy for them.”

Less than 48 hours after viciously twisting her right ankle in the WNIT opener on Thursday night, leading scorer Liza Fruendt took her usual spot in the starting lineup.

Hobbled and heavily taped, Fruendt wasn't stopped by the limp. No. 5 accounted for seven of the Lady Bears’ 16 first-quarter points, and Fruendt powered MSU to a three-point lead after a quarter of play.

The Lady Bears held a 24-20 lead and the ball with six minutes remaining in the second quarter, but an entry pass to the paint was picked off by TCU, and momentum turned. 

TCU's Amber Ramirez connected from downtown and was fouled on the shot by Brice Calip. After Ramirez hit the free throw and TCU stopped the Lady Bears on the defensive end, she found Kianna Ray open behind the arc. Ray splashed another deep ball to put the Horned Frogs up 26-24.

The three-pointers didn’t stop falling for TCU.

Ray hit another one to put the Frogs up 29-24. Minutes later, with TCU leading 32-28, Lauren Heard dished to Toree Thompson, who splashed from deep. It was Dakota Vann’s turn with 30 seconds before intermission — her long ball put MSU in a 10-point hole at the break.

“We were hoping maybe to the cut [into] it early [in the second half], we got a stop and then turned the ball over. Just couldn’t get going back in the right direction," Harper said. 

The weight of postseason adversity — an injury to Fruendt, two road games in less than two days, and a fresh opponent that won nine games in the Big 12 this season — finally took their toll on MSU in the second half.

Fruendt finished 2-for-9 with seven points in 16 minutes of action in her final game.

“I’m glad she was able to play, for her sake. Obviously, I wish she had been 100 percent and we put her in a tough spot,” said Harper. “Making a couple shots there in the first half kind of gives you a glimpse, but you could just tell it was a step slow, laterally.”

“We were hoping to disguise it and mask it a little bit, but I think unfortunately they were trying to go right at her.”

TCU shot 54 percent from the field on the afternoon and made 10 of 14 from three-point territory. MSU shot just 17-for-67 and were outrebounded 43-35. Thompson led TCU with 15 points, and Alexa Willard matched her total for the Lady Bears.

With JQH Arena unavailable this week, the Lady Bears traveled to Ruston, Louisiana for the opening round of the WNIT. Just five minutes into the contest with Louisiana Tech, Fruendt was lost to an ankle injury.

After passing that gut check, the team hopped back on the bus for a 289-mile trip to TCU. The rested Horned Frogs were waiting, after they had cruised to a home victory over Lamar on Thursday night.

“I don’t think [the travel] helped, but I think we played hard,” said Harper. “We had a few people maybe a step slow. They had a lot of bounce, TCU had a lot of bounce today. I thought their length bothered us at times. Just wasn’t our day.”

The Lady Bears’ graduating class — Fruendt, Aubrey Buckley, Lee Ann Polowy and Audrey Holt — were Harpers’ first recruits at Missouri State. They made four consecutive postseason appearances, including an NCAA-tournament berth in 2016.

Fruendt scored 1,656 career points, good for seventh on MSU’s all-time list and 11 points ahead of former teammate Kenzie Williams. The Batavia, Illinois native also ranks in the top 10 all-time in field goals and three-pointers. She is one of five players to score 1,500 points and record 400 rebounds and 200 three-pointers.

Fruendt’s top individual performance was nearly enough to hand Drake their only conference loss last season. Her career-best 46 point effort in Des Moines, Iowa on March 2, 2017 was the fifth highest single-game total in MSU history.

Buckley started 104 games, reaching double figures 38 times and recording six double-doubles. The Parkview alum was named the team’s co-defensive player of the year last season, sharing the honors with classmate Audrey Holt.

Holt’s career was cut short six games into the season after she experienced recurring concussions. But she ranks No. 15 in program history with 53 career blocks.

Polowy exits ranked No. 17 all-time with 76 three-pointers and a degree in mechanical engineering technology. She became the first woman awarded that degree by MSU in December.

“I was really proud of this team. They did a lot of good things this year. Every single day they practiced hard,” said Harper.

“This is really tough because this has been such a fun ride.”