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Lady Bears look to build on historic season TJ SCOTT Sports Reporter @iamtjs_ The Missouri State women’s basketball team will have high expectations heading into the 2020-2021 season. The Lady Bears ended the 2019-2020 season with a 26-4 record and a perfect 15-0 record at home and won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title outright for the first time since the 2011-2012 season. They were also consistently ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 and ended the season as the No. 23 team in the country — all while being led by first-year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton. However, the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out both the MVC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. The program has a history of success, and Agugua-Hamilton said she believes the team can continue it. “Next year we gotta continue to work,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “I mean, we set the bar pretty high. The bar’s way up there in the sky.” Along with success, a constant with the Lady Bears last season was not receiving the national recognition many believed they deserved. While being consistently ranked in the AP Top 25 while in a mid-major conference, many
thought the Lady Bears were better than some of the teams ranked in front of them. MSU may not play in a Power Five conference, but Agugua-Hamilton believes the team’s schedule will provide challenges. “It’s going to be a competitive schedule,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “I think it’s important to continue to push our team in the nonconference and get ourselves prepared for conference play. Our conference is going to be tough, and we want to be able to make a run and go back to back.” Repeating last season’s success will be a tough task for the Lady Bears, especially with the departure of senior guard Alexa Willard and senior forward Shameka Ealy. “On and off the court, they’re great,” Agugua-HamFile photo by Kendra Kernel/THE STANDARD ilton said. “Shameka had some Teammates on the bench jump to their feet after senior Bri Ellis makes a 3-pointer during a really big shots and some good game against Valparaiso in March 2020. key rebounds and blocked