Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears

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NCAA
  
Division I (FCS)

Location
  
Springfield, Missouri

Athletic director
  
Kyle Moats

Varsity teams
  
14

Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears

University
  
Missouri State University

Conference
  
Missouri Valley Conference Missouri Valley Football Conference Mid-American Conference

The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing Missouri State University (formerly Southwest Missouri State University). These athletics programs date back to 1908. Missouri State competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, and most teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. Missouri State is more and more frequently being abbreviated by the media as MOST.

Contents

Teams

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State University sponsors six men's and eleven women's teams in NCAA sanctioned sports:

Notes

WNIT appearances

2002, 2005 (Champions), 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015

Conference championships

AIAW (no division 1969–1974, Large College 1974–1979, Division II 1979–1982) 5
1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1981

Mid-Continent Conference (1983–1992) 2
1991, 1992

Missouri Valley Conference (1992–2012) 9
1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012

Head coaches

  • Reba Sims (10 seasons, 129–116), 1969–1979
  • Marti Gasser (4 seasons, 62–60), 1979–1983
  • Valerie Goodwin-Colbert (4 seasons, 48–63), 1983–1987
  • Cheryl Burnett (15 seasons, 319–136), 1987–2002, 10 NCAA Tournament Appearances, 2 Final Four Appearances, 1 Sweet 16 Appearance. 1 WNIT Appearance
  • Katie Abrahamson-Henderson (5 seasons, 95–61), 2002–2007, 3 NCAA Tournament Appearances, WNIT Championship
  • Nyla Milleson, (5 seasons, 89–69), 2007–2013, 3 WNIT Appearances
  • Kellie Harper, (3rd season, 56–41), 2013–Present, 1 NCAA Appearance, 1 WNIT Appearance

    • Retired numbers

  • 10 Jackie Stiles, 1997–2001 (NCAA Division I Women's Basketball's all-time #2 leading scorer with 3,393 points)
  • 35 Melody Howard, 1990–1994
  • 42 Jeanette Tendai, 1982–1986

    • Club sports

    The university also sponsors several club sports teams, including ice hockey (ACHA), lacrosse (MCLA), and roller hockey (NCRHA).

    Men's ice hockey

    Missouri State men's ice hockey, known as the Ice Bears, began in 2001 and despite not being a varsity NCAA sport receives much attention on and off-campus. The Ice Bears currently compete at the Division II level of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) in the Mid-American Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA). The teams play off-campus at the 2,000-seat Mediacom Ice Park.

    Men's varsity ice hockey finished the 2009–2010 season ranked 2nd in the MACHA DII with a record of 12–4–0 in 16 league games, the team lost in the MACHA Championship 1–5 to Southern Illinois University- Edwardsville. In addition to the ACHA DII team the University also fields a JV teams playing at the ACHA DIII level. The team won the MACHA DIII championship with a 5–3 win over Robert Morris University- Peoria.

    Men's lacrosse

    Missouri State also fields a highly successful club Lacrosse Team. Founded in 2003, it competes in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) Division II in the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC). In 2009 and 2010, the Bears received an automatic qualifier for the MCLA National Championships in Denver, Colorado, after winning the GRLC championship. The Bears finished the 2010 season with a record of 11–5, including victories over Creighton, Arkansas, and a 9–3 defeat of in-state rival the University of Missouri. Since 2003, MSU Lacrosse has fielded 5 All-Americans, 41 All-Conference players, 2 GRLC Tournament MVP's, and 2 GRLC Division II Coach's of the Year.

    References

    Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA