University of Wyoming
Missouri State
11/5/2026 12:09:00 PM | Women's Basketball
LARAMIE, Wyo. (Nov. 5, 2026) – The Wyoming Cowgirls continue their homestand to begin the regular season as they welcome in Conference USA favorite Missouri State for a 7 p.m., contest Saturday inside the Arena-Auditorium.
Saturday's game will be broadcast live on MW+ and can be heard across the Cowgirl Radio Network with David Settle on the call.
ABOUT THE COWGIRLS
Wyoming is coming off an 84-50 loss in the opener Monday against West Coast Conference favorite, Santa Clara. Norah Clark led the Cowgirls with a game-high 16 points in the loss and went 9-of-9 at the free-throw line. Clark also led UW with seven rebounds, three steals and had Wyoming's lone block on the night. Kati Ollilainen added seven points while Liv Blomkvist led the Cowgirls with a pair of assists and scored a career-high six points.
In all, six Cowgirls scored their first-career points at Wyoming Monday night. Zoey Blackwell, Clark, Karly Davis, Taylor Donaldson, Merceius Mili and Ophelia Powell all scored in their first games with the Brown & Gold. As a team, Wyoming went 14-of-18 at the free-throw line against the Broncos.
Santa Clara and Missouri State are the two preseason favorites in its respective leagues that Wyoming will face in its challenging non-conference slate. The Cowgirls also face a trio of teams who were picked second in their leagues, South Dakota State (Summit), Idaho (Big Sky) and Portland (West Coast). UW also faces Harvard, who's picked third in the Ivy League and Border Rival Colorado State, who's tabbed fourth in the Pac 12.
SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State, who is the preseason favorite in Conference USA, is coming off a 77-40 win over Southeast Missouri State in the season opener. The 2025-26 Conference USA champions and NCAA Tournament participant returns First Team All-CUSA and Preseason Player of the Year in Kaemyn Bekemeier. The Lady Bears also welcome back Second Team All-CUSA honoree in Lainie Douglas, as well as Maiesha Washington who was an All-Freshman Team selection a season ago. Bekemier, who is also on the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Watchlist, averaged 17.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season. Douglas averaged 13.6 points and 6.3 boards in 2025-26. Douglas scored 15 and Bekemeier had 11 in the opener against SEMO.
As a team, the Lady Bears averaged 65.6 points per game and allowed just 62.1 a contest. Missouri State shot over 40-percent from the floor and held its opponents to just 38-percent overall and 28.5-percent from 3-point range. The Lady Bears were plus-six in rebounding margin in 2025-26 and averaged 12.2 assists per game. Missouri State won the Conference USA Postseason Tournament last season and won the No. 16 seed game against Stephen F. Austin before losing to top-seeded Texas.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State won the lone meeting previously between the two programs. The Lady Bears won 62-50 in December of 2024 in Springfield. Kati Ollilainen had two points, a rebound and a steal in that meeting two seasons ago off the bench.
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