Women’s basketball

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-Hamilton said. “Shameka had some really big shots and some good key rebounds and blocked

File photo by Kendra Kernel/THE STANDARD Teammates on the bench jump to their feet after senior Bri Ellis makes a 3-pointer during a game against Valparaiso in March 2020.

File photo by Greta Cross/THE STANDARD Senior Jasmine Franklin tosses the ball during a game against the Indiana State Sycamores in February 2020.

shots. (Willard) was tremendous all year. She’s the hardest working kid I think I’ve ever coached.”

The task ahead is preparing for the upcoming season, and COVID-19 has thrown a wrench into a lot of the offseason plans for college teams — including the Lady Bears.

“First it was permissible to do workouts — then it wasn’t permissible,” Agugua-Hamilton said in an early April interview. “It’s been kind of up in the air with a lot of things. So right now, everything is voluntary with the workouts they’re doing.

“I do think they’re motivated and they’re doing some work on their own. But at the end of the day, when we get back together physically, I know that there’s going to be some work to be done.”

Even with only graduating two seniors, the Lady Bears added more talent through recruiting.

“The recruits are super excited,” Agugua-Hamilton said. “The ones that we have coming in, Dani and Paige, are both praying and hoping they can come in June.”

The recruits Agugua-Hamilton mentioned are Danielle “Dani” Winslow and Paige Rocca.

Winslow is a 6-foot wing player and a threestar recruit from Olathe South High School. Winslow is also a top-10 prospect at her position.

Rocca is a 5’8” guard from Iowa City High School. Rocca is ranked 372nd nationally and eighth in Iowa.

The Lady Bears play their home games at JQH Arena, also known as “The Q.” Their 2020- 2021 schedule had not been released at press time.