Missouri State's Kaemyn Bekemeier shines, Lady Bears advance in March Madness
· Yahoo Sports
AUSTIN, TX – First Four or First Round, it’s all the same to Missouri State’s Kaemyn Bekemeier. She’ll get to experience both after scoring 23 points and grabbing 13 rebounds to lead the Lady Bears to an 85-75 win over Stephen F. Austin, moving her team from the First Four to the First Round.
“We were all excited to put our name plate on [the large bracket board] and officially be in the bracket and not to be playing in a play-in game, but like a real game,” she said, before quickly qualifying that statement. “Not that this wasn’t a real game.”
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Bekemeier’s night paced a balanced effort that included five players in double figures, a 50-30 rebound advantage, and a second-half defensive performance that limited SFA to 0-for-16 shooting from 3-point range.
“I thought defensively we did a much better job in the second half,” Missouri State coach Beth Cunningham said. “They shoot the 3 really, really well. I wish we wouldn’t have given up so many points, but we knew we had to get stops in the second half.”
Cunningham liked her team’s offensive balance. Along with Bekemeier, Maiesha Washington scored 18 points, Lainie Douglas scored 14 with 10 rebounds, Kendal Brueggen scored 13 with 9 rebounds and Faith Lee chipped in with 10 points. Much of the damage came after the Lady Bears broke through SFA’s pressure and got open looks.
SFA guard Ashlyn Traylor-Walker, who scored a game-high 23 points, said things changed when starting post Cha Gardner left with an injured ankle after just 3 minutes.
“Some of it was fatigue when our starting post went out,” she said. “When she went out, that was (a shorter) rotation for us.”
Missouri State (23-12) took advantage.
“We really wanted to come out and attack the middle of the zone and not just walk the ball up the floor,” Cunningham said. “I thought our kids did a good job of that.”
Washington proved the main beneficiary, hitting shot after shot from just inside the foul line. She hit 9 of her 14 shots in the game.
“I think I’ve always been a mid-range girly,” Washington said. “That’s kind of just always been something that I grew up with. I was taught to not only be able to do something inside but to pull it out and shoot the mid-range.”
The win marks Missouri State’s first tournament win since 2022 and is the first for nearly everyone on the roster. Bekemeier said the team couldn’t wait to get onto the Moody Center floor and get rid of the butterflies.
“I know we were just excited to have a game, coming in and just shake off the jitters for sure,” she said. “And we’ll have to turn around and have to play again on Friday. There were some nervous moments, but those will all be gone for Friday.”
Good thing, because Friday brings a much different test — top-seeded Texas on its home floor.
“Getting those jitters out was huge because this was everyone’s first time at this tournament,” Bekemeier said. “We were kind of figuring it out and then realizing the level of basketball we’re about to go into.”
Cunningham said she hadn’t looked at Texas from a scouting perspective yet, but figured her staff would have plenty for her to review by the time she got on the team bus Wednesday night. Still, she said Texas won’t be completely new to her.
“I’m pretty familiar with their personnel,” Cunningham said. “I recruited a lot of the kids when I was at Duke. I think one of my last home visits with (Duke coach) Kara (Lawson) was with Maddie Booker. Obviously, they are a great team and have had a heck of a year.”
Booker is a first-team All-America player who leads a deep Texas team looking for its second-straight Final 4 trip. Texas and Missouri State play at 3 p.m. Friday.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State women's basketball moves onto March Madness First Round