Paige Rocca etched herself into the great history of the Missouri State and Drake women’s basketball rivalry by hitting a game-tying 3-pointer at the horn and forcing overtime before the Lady Bears took control and won in the extra period.
Rocca’s heroics helped give the Lady Bears (14-4, 6-1 MVC) a 72-68 win over Drake (11-8, 5-3 MVC) on Friday night at Great Southern Bank Arena, tipping off their most important homestand of the season.
Trailing by three with 10 seconds remaining, the Lady Bears struggled to find an open look and almost allowed time to expire before MSU coach Beth Cunningham called a timeout.
With 0.9 seconds remaining, Kiley Bess zipped the inbounds pass into Rocca, who quickly let a 3 at the horn fly, tying the game and forcing overtime.
The Lady Bears continued the momentum early in overtime, scoring the extra period’s first six points. That lead was cut in half when Katie Dinnebier, the reigning MVC Player of the Year, made a 3 with 2:17 left. MSU’s lead was cut to one after a pair of Drake free throws with 59.3 seconds remaining.
Needing a score, star point guard Lacy Stokes got a floater to go right before the shot clock buzzer before she finished a three-point play with 28.7 seconds left, putting MSU up by four. Drake didn’t score the remainder of the game.
Drake women’s basketball star Katie Dinnebier was tough to contain
The reigning Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year got off to a hot start but was held in check for most of the game. Dinnebier, one of the most efficient players in the Valley, started the game by scoring 13 points in the first quarter on 4 of 4 shooting with three made 3’s.
She didn’t score another point until making a free throw with 1:43 left in the third quarter. Before then, she had missed five consecutive shots.
Missouri State couldn’t contain her in the fourth quarter. She hit clutch shot after clutch shot, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter.
When overtime hit, the Lady Bears shut her down, limiting her to just three points. She finished the game with 28.
What a Missouri State women’s basketball win means
The Lady Bears are now 3-0 against the other top three teams in the Missouri Valley Conference and will have another critical game on Sunday afternoon.
On a six-game winning streak, MSU will host Northern Iowa at 2 p.m. UNI had lost three of its last four but played a pretty miserable Southern Illinois team on Friday night.
Missouri State is firmly in the MVC regular season championship mix but still has a long way to go before claiming a title. On Feb. 2, the team will play a tough game at Illinois State. What could be the season-defining road stretch will begin Feb. 20 and end March 1, with road games at UNI, Drake, Murray State and Belmont.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State women’s basketball beats Drake in overtime thriller
