# 2018–19 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team

The 2018–19 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears, led by sixth year head coach Kellie Harper, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 25–10, 16–2 in MVC play to finish in second place. They won the Missouri Valley women's tournament to earn an automatic trip to the NCAA Women's Basketball where upset DePaul and Iowa State in the first and second rounds to advance to the sweet sixteen for the first time 2001 where they lost to Stanford.
On April 8, Harper left after 6 seasons to accept the head coaching job at her alma mater, Tennessee. She finish with a 6 year record of 118–79.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 29, 2018* 7:00 pm | | Central Missouri | L 64–70 | | JQH Arena (1,805) Springfield, MO |
| Nov 4, 2018* 7:00 pm | | Lincoln | W 100–54 | | JQH Arena (1,767) Springfield, MO |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2018* 2:00 pm, KOZL | | at Wichita State | L 60–63 $^{OT}$ | 0–1 | Charles Koch Arena (1,967) Wichita, KS |
| Nov 14, 2018* 7:00 pm | | at No. 16 Missouri | L 61–65 | 0–2 | Mizzou Arena (4,111) Columbia, MO |
| Nov 17, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Ball State | W 74–54 | 1–2 | JQH Arena (2,018) Springfield, MO |
| Nov 24, 2018* 4:00 pm | | at Santa Clara | L 73–77 | 1–3 | Leavey Center (252) Santa Clara, CA |
| Dec 1, 2018* 3:00 pm | | at North Texas | L 76–83 $^{OT}$ | 1–4 | The Super Pit (1,377) Denton, TX |
| Dec 4, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | South Dakota | L 74–85 | 1–5 | JQH Arena (1,820) Springfield, MO |
| Dec 9, 2018* 11:00 am, BTN | | at Indiana | L 74–98 | 1–6 | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (3,463) Bloomington, IN |
| Dec 16, 2018* 2:00 pm, KOZL | | No. 21 Gonzaga | L 67–70 | 1–7 | JQH Arena (2,066) Springfield, MO |
| Dec 20, 2018* 6:30 pm | | vs. Louisiana Tech Roo Holiday Classic | W 82–70 | 2–7 | Swinney Recreation Center (322) Kansas City, MO |
| Dec 21, 2018* 3:00 pm | | vs. SIU Edwardsville Roo Holiday Classic | W 68–65 | 3–7 | Swinney Recreation Center (374) Kansas City, MO |
| Dec 30, 2018* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Little Rock | W 48–44 | 4–7 | JQH Arena (2,045) Springfield, MO |
| Missouri Valley regular season ||||||
| Jan 4, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Indiana State | W 71–58 | 5–7 (1–0) | JQH Arena (2,015) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 6, 2019 2:00 pm, KOZL | | Evansville | W 88–66 | 6–7 (2–0) | JQH Arena (1,934) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 13, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Southern Illinois | W 66–51 | 7–7 (3–0) | JQH Arena (1,864) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 18, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Bradley | W 68–56 | 8–7 (4–0) | Renaissance Coliseum (515) Peoria, IL |
| Jan 20, 2019 2:00 pm, KOZL | | at Illinois State | W 59–47 | 9–7 (5–0) | Redbird Arena (782) Normal, IL |
| Jan 25, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Loyola–Chicago | W 84–49 | 10–7 (6–0) | JQH Arena (2,757) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 27, 2019 2:00 pm, KOZL | | Valparaiso | W 108–63 | 11–7 (7–0) | JQH Arena (2,886) Springfield, MO |
| Feb 1, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Drake | W 85–79 | 12–7 (8–0) | Knapp Center (3,101) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 3, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Northern Iowa | W 63–58 | 13–7 (10–0) | McLeod Center (1,485) Cedar Falls, IA |
| Feb 8, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Southern Illinois | W 70–58 | 14–7 (10–0) | SIU Arena (361) Carbondale, IL |
| Feb 15, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Illinois State | L 56–60 | 14–8 (10–1) | JQH Arena (1,750) Springfield, MO |
| Feb 17, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Bradley | W 82–60 | 15–8 (11–1) | JQH Arena (2,235) Springfield, MO |
| Feb 22, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Valparaiso | W 84–49 | 16–8 (12–1) | Athletics–Recreation Center (277) Valparaiso, IN |
| Feb 24, 2019 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Loyola–Chicago | W 85–58 | 17–8 (13–1) | Joseph J. Gentile Arena (372) Chicago, IL |
| Mar 1, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Northern Iowa | W 58–48 | 18–8 (14–1) | JQH Arena (3,112) Springfield, MO |
| Mar 3, 2019 2:00 pm, KOZL | | No. 23 Drake | L 61–70 | 18–9 (14–2) | JQH Arena (3,827) Springfield, MO |
| Mar 7, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Evansville | W 88–46 | 19–9 (15–2) | Meeks Family Fieldhouse (301) Evansville, IN |
| Mar 9, 2019 1:00 pm, KOZL | | at Indiana State | W 76–66 | 20–9 (16–2) | Hulman Center (1,456) Terre Haute, IN |
| Missouri Valley Women's Tournament ||||||
| Mar 15, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (7) Loyola–Chicago Quarterfinals | W 59–50 | 21–9 | TaxSlayer Center Moline, IL |
| Mar 16, 2019 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (3) Northern Iowa Semifinals | W 89–64 | 22–9 | TaxSlayer Center (2,254) Moline, IL |
| Mar 17, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (1) No. 21 Drake Championship Game | W 94–79 | 23–9 | TaxSlayer Center (1,558) Moline, IL |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| Mar 23, 2019* 2:30 pm, ESPN2 | (11 C) | vs. (6 C) No. 24 DePaul First Round | W 89–78 | 24–9 | Hilton Coliseum Ames, IA |
| Mar 25, 2019* 8:00 pm, ESPN | (11 C) | at (3 C) No. 13 Iowa State Second Round | W 69–60 | 25–9 | Hilton Coliseum (5,809) Ames, IA |
| Mar 30, 2019* 5:30 pm, ESPN2 | (11 C) | vs. (2 C) No. 7 Stanford Sweet Sixteen | L 46–55 | 25–10 | Wintrust Arena (7,714) Chicago, IL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. C=Chicago Region. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

2018–19 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |
| (NR) | Not Ranked |