2026–27 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team
American college basketball season
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The 2026–27 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team will represent Missouri State University during the 2026–27 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears will be led by fifth-year head coach Beth Cunningham, and will play their home games at the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Missouri as second-year members of Conference USA.
ConferenceConference USA
Record0–0 (0–0 C-USA)
Headcoach
- Beth Cunningham (5th season)
Assistant coaches
- Olivia Malcolm
- Jay Spoonhour
- LaKale Malone
- Abby Emmert
- Blake Richter
| 2026–27 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball | |
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| Conference | Conference USA |
| Record | 0–0 (0–0 C-USA) |
| Head coach |
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| Assistant coaches |
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| Home arena | Great Southern Bank Arena |
| Conf. | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Delaware | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FIU | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jacksonville State | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kennesaw State | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Liberty | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Middle Tennessee | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Missouri State | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico State | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sam Houston | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Kentucky | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | 0 | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2027 CUSA tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Previous season
The Lady Bears finished the 2025–26 season 23–13 and 11–7 in C-USA play to finish sixth in the conference. In the C-USA tournament, they beat No. 3 Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals, No. 2 FIU in the semifinals and No. 1 Louisiana Tech in the championship game to capture the conference title in their first season as members of Conference USA. They became the lowest seed to ever win the tournament title, tied with Tulsa, who won in 2013 also as a No. 6 seed.
As the conference's winner, the Lady Bears earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first since 2022. As the No. 16 seed in the Fort Worth #3 Regional, they won their First Four game against Stephen F. Austin before losing to No. 1 Texas in the First Round.
Offseason
Departures
| Name | Num | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria Dixon | 0 | Guard | 5'5" | Senior | Grand Prairie, TX | Graduated |
| Zoe Canfield | 5 | Guard | 5'11" | Sophomore | Topeka, KS | Transferred to Oklahoma State |
| Faith Lee | 11 | Forward | 5'11" | Senior | Monroe, LA | Graduated |
| Tyra Robinson | 12 | Forward | 6'3" | Junior | Little Rock, AR | Transferred to SIU Edwardsville |
| Maycee James | 13 | Guard | 5'7" | Senior | Goddard, KS | Graduated |
| Angel Scott | 20 | Guard | 5'10" | Senior | Edmond, OK | Graduated |
| Cady Pauley | 32 | Guard | 5'11" | Senior | Milan, MO | Graduated |
Incoming transfers
| Name | Num | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landon Forbes | 5 | Guard | 5'6" | Senior | Wichita, KS | Morehead State |
| Macie Mays | 13 | Guard | 5'11" |  Junior | El Dorado Springs, MO | Pittsburg State (D-II) |
| Hannah Linthacum | 34 | Forward | 6'4" | Junior | Jefferson City, MO | Missouri |
Recruiting class
There was no recruiting class for 2026.
Roster
| 2026–27 Missouri State Lady Bears women's basketball team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Schedule and results
| Date time, TV |
Rank# | Opponent# | Result | Record | High points | High rebounds | High assists | Site (attendance) city, state | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exhibition | |||||||||||
| October 16, 2026* TBA |
vs. Creighton | T-Mobile Center Kansas City, MO | |||||||||
| Non-conference regular season | |||||||||||
| November 2, 2026* TBA |
Southeast Missouri State | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| November 7, 2026* TBA |
at Wyoming | Arena-Auditorium Laramie, WY | |||||||||
| November 10, 2026* TBA |
at Wichita State | Charles Koch Arena Wichita, KS | |||||||||
| November 13, 2026* TBA |
Marquette | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| November 18, 2026* TBA |
at Saint Louis | Chaifetz Arena St. Louis, MO | |||||||||
| November 22, 2026* 11:00 a.m. |
vs. Kansas City 28.5 Hoops Women's Invitational |
T-Mobile Center Kansas City, MO | |||||||||
| November 26, 2026* 5:30 p.m. |
vs. Minnesota Cancún Challenge Riviera Tournament |
Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Cancún, Mexico | |||||||||
| November 27, 2026* 3:00 p.m. |
vs. Washington State Cancun Challenge Riviera Tournament |
Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya Cancún, Mexico | |||||||||
| December 3, 2026* TBA |
at Kansas | Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, KS | |||||||||
| December 6, 2026* TBA |
Central Arkansas | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| December 12, 2026* TBA |
North Dakota State | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| December 16, 2026* TBA |
UT Arlington | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| December 19, 2026* TBA |
at Arkansas | Bud Walton Arena Fayetteville, AR | |||||||||
| December 22, 2026* TBA |
Austin Peay | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| C-USA regular season | |||||||||||
| January 2, 2027 TBA |
Sam Houston | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| January 2, 2027 TBA |
New Mexico State | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| January 8, 2027* TBA |
at Delaware | Acierno Arena Newark, DE | |||||||||
| January 10, 2027* TBA |
at Liberty | Liberty Arena Lynchburg, VA | |||||||||
| January 16, 2027 TBA |
FIU | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| January 21, 2027 TBA |
Western Kentucky | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| January 23, 2027 TBA |
Middle Tennessee | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| January 28, 2027 TBA |
at Kennesaw State | VyStar Arena Kennesaw, GA | |||||||||
| January 30, 2027 TBA |
at Jacksonville State | Pete Mathews Coliseum Jacksonville, AL | |||||||||
| February 4, 2027 TBA |
Liberty | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| February 6, 2027 TBA |
Delaware | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| February 13, 2027 TBA |
at FIU | Ocean Bank Convocation Center Miami, FL | |||||||||
| February 18, 2027 TBA |
at Middle Tennessee | Murphy Center Murfreesboro, TN | |||||||||
| February 20, 2027 TBA |
at Western Kentucky | E. A. Diddle Arena Bowling Green, KY | |||||||||
| February 25, 2027 TBA |
Kennesaw State | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| February 27, 2027 TBA |
Jacksonville State | Great Southern Bank Arena Springfield, MO | |||||||||
| March 4, 2027 TBA |
at New Mexico State | Pan American Center Las Cruces, NM | |||||||||
| March 6, 2027 TBA |
at Sam Houston | Bernard Johnson Coliseum Huntsville, TX | |||||||||