2021–22 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team

The 2021–22 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears, led by third year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

2021–22 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	25–8 (14–4 The Valley)
Head coach	Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Alysiah Bond Tori Jankoska CJ Jones
Home arena	JQH Arena
Seasons ← 2020–21 2022–23 →

2021–22 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Southern Illinois	15	–	3		.833			21	–	10		.677
Missouri State	14	–	4		.778			25	–	8		.758
Northern Iowa	13	–	5		.722			23	–	11		.676
Illinois State †	12	–	6		.667			19	–	14		.576
Loyola Chicago	10	–	8		.556			18	–	12		.600
Valparaiso	9	–	9		.500			11	–	19		.367
Drake	9	–	9		.500			20	–	14		.588
Indiana State	5	–	13		.278			11	–	20		.355
Evansville	2	–	16		.111			8	–	22		.267
Bradley	1	–	17		.056			4	–	24		.143
† 2022 MVC tournament winner

They finished the season 25–8 and 14–4 in conference play to finish in second place. As the second seed in the Missouri Valley tournament, they defeated Drake in the quarterfinals before losing to Northern Iowa in the semifinals. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were one of the eleven seeds in the Spokane Regional. They defeated fellow eleven seed Florida State in the First Four before falling to the sixth seed Ohio State in the first round.

Previous season

The Lady Bears finished the season 23–3 and 16–0 in conference play to finish as Missouri Valley Conference champions. As the first seed in the Missouri Valley tournament, they defeated Southern Illinois in the quarterfinals before having to forfeit their semifinal game.^[1] They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the fifth seed in the Alamo Regional. They defeated twelve seed UC Davis and thirteen seed Wright State before falling to the first seed Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen.

Roster

2021–22 Missouri State Bears women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown F 0 Abigayle Jackson 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Sr Little Rock Central Auburn Little Rock, AR G 1 Taylor Woodhouse 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) Fr Southaven Southaven, MS G 2 Lindsey Byers 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Fr Helias Catholic Jefferson City, MO F 4 Abby Hipp 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Sr St. Pius X Kansas City, MO G 11 Brice Calip 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr Sapulpa Sapulpa, OK F 12 Jennifer Ezeh 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) RS So New Hope Academy Nibo, Nigeria F 13 Ifunanya Nwachukwu 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Jr Topfield College Chipola College Lagos, Nigeria G 14 Mariah White 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Sr Start Cleveland State Toledo, OH G 20 Isabelle Delarue 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr Francis Howell North St. Charles, MO G 21 Sydney Wilson 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Sr Olathe East Overland Park, KS G 22 Paige Rocca 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Iowa City Iowa City, IA G 23 Mya Bhinhar 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Owasso High School Owasso, OK F 32 Jasmine Franklin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sr Fayetteville Fayetteville, AR	Head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (Hofstra) Assistant coach(es) Alysiah Bond (Ohio State) Tori Jankoska (Michigan State) CJ Jones (Francis Marion) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on   Injured   Current redshirt Roster Last update: May 25, 2022

Schedule

Source:^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 1, 2021* 6:00 p.m.		Missouri Baptist	W 107–33	–	JQH Arena (1,447) Springfield, MO
November 5, 2021* 6:00 p.m.		Lincoln	W 100–44	–	JQH Arena (1,524) Springfield, MO
Non-conference regular season
November 9, 2021* 7:30 p.m., ESPN+		at Little Rock	W 76–62	1–0	Jack Stephens Center (1,743) Little Rock, AR
November 14, 2021* 1:00 p.m., ESPN3		North Texas	W 56–50	2–0	JQH Arena (2,575) Springfield, MO
November 17, 2021* 6:30 p.m.		at Oklahoma State	L 40–44	2–1	Gallagher-Iba Arena (1,577) Stillwater, OK
November 20, 2021* 4:00 p.m.		at USC	W 67–41	3–1	Galen Center (372) Los Angeles, CA
November 26, 2021* 9:00 a.m., FloHoops		vs. No. 24 Virginia Tech San Juan Shootout	W 76–68	4–1	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (200) San Juan, Puerto Rico
November 27, 2021* 11:15 a.m., FloHoops		vs. LSU San Juan Shootout	L 58–66	4–2	Roberto Clemente Coliseum (200) San Juan, Puerto Rico
December 3, 2021* 7:00 p.m.		William Jewell	W 81–26	5–2	JQH Arena (1,803) Springfield, MO
December 6, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		at South Dakota State	W 55–52	6–2	Frost Arena (1,149) Brookings, SD
December 10, 2021* 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Missouri	W 79–51	7–2	JQH Arena (5,288) Springfield, MO
December 18, 2021* 2:00 p.m., ESPN3		Southern	W 72–43	8–2	JQH Arena (2,047) Springfield, MO
December 21, 2021* 11:00 a.m., ESPN+		Toledo	W 60–46	9–2	JQH Arena (2,139) Springfield, MO
Missouri Valley Conference Season
December 31, 2021 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Loyola Chicago	W 55–38	10–2 (1–0)	JQH Arena (1,877) Springfield, MO
January 2, 2022 1:00 p.m., ESPN3		Valparaiso	W 74–62	11–2 (2–0)	JQH Arena (1,534) Springfield, MO
January 13, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Northern Iowa	L 65–74	11–3 (2–1)	McLeod Center (739) Cedar Falls, IA
January 15, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Drake	W 69–53	12–3 (3–1)	Knapp Center (1,903) Des Moines, IA
January 20, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Bradley	W 66–46	13–3 (4–1)	JQH Arena (1,662) Springfield, MO
January 22, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Illinois State	L 51–52	13–4 (4–2)	JQH Arena (2,036) Springfield, MO
January 27, 2022 6:00 p.m.		at Evansville	W 82–35	14–4 (5–2)	Meeks Family Fieldhouse (325) Evansville, IN
January 29, 2022 Noon, ESPN+		at Indiana State	W 62–58	15–4 (6–2)	Hulman Center (1,139) Terre Haute, IN
February 4, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Southern Illinois	L 49–65	15–5 (6–3)	SIU Arena (332) Carbondale, IL
February 6, 2022 5:00 p.m.		Southern Illinois	W 53–52	16–5 (7–3)	JQH Arena (1,802) Springfield, MO
February 11, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Drake	W 63–59	17–5 (8–3)	JQH Arena (2,156) Springfield, MO
February 13, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Northern Iowa	W 66–57	18–5 (9–3)	JQH Arena (1,870) Springfield, MO
February 18, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Illinois State	W 75–69	19–5 (10–3)	Redbird Arena (735) Normal, IL
February 20, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Bradley	W 72–56	20–5 (11–3)	Renaissance Coliseum (328) Peoria, IL
February 24, 2022 7:00 p.m., ESPN+		Evansville	W 99–57	21–5 (12–3)	JQH Arena (1,672) Springfield, MO
February 26, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		Indiana State	W 72–65	22–5 (13–3)	JQH Arena (3,551) Springfield, MO
March 3, 2022 2:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Valparaiso	W 66–46	23–5 (14–3)	Athletics–Recreation Center (278) Valparaiso, IN
March 5, 2022 1:00 p.m., ESPN+		at Loyola Chicago	L 42–60	23–6 (14–4)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena (301) Chicago, IL
Missouri Valley tournament
March 11, 2022 6:00 p.m., ESPN+	(2)	vs. (7) Drake Quarterfinals	W 63–49	24–6	TaxSlayer Center (0) Moline, IL
March 12, 2022 4:00 p.m., ESPN+	(2)	vs. (3) Northern Iowa Semifinals	L 57–63	24–7	TaxSlayer Center (1,456) Moline, IL
NCAA tournament
March 17, 2022 8:00 p.m., ESPN2	(11 S)	vs. (11 S) Florida State First Four	W 61–50	25–7	Maravich Center (366) Baton Rouge, LA
March 19, 2022 1:30 p.m., ESPNU	(11 S)	vs. (6 S) No. 14 Ohio State First Round	L 56–63	25–8	Maravich Center  Baton Rouge, LA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=Spokane. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2021–22 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
AP	RV	—	RV	—	RV	—	—	RV	RV	—	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Coaches	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Legend

		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week
(RV)		Received Votes
(NR)		Not Ranked and Did not receive votes

The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.

References

1. "MVC Women's Basketball Tournament - Schedule Update". mvc-sports.com. Missouri Valley Conference. March 13, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
2. "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule". missouristatebears.com. Missouri State University Athletics. Retrieved May 25, 2022.