Lady Bears Headed to St. Louis

For the second time in school history, the Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears are headed to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four. SMS won the West Regional last night by hammering Washington 104-87 in Spokane, Washington. Jackie Stiles led the way with 32 points for SMS while Tara Mitchem added 23. Mitchem was perfect last night, hitting all seven of her shots from the field and all six of her field goals. The Lady Bears will now move on to St. Louis for the Final Four. They will battle Purdue in the National Semi-finals on Friday. Purdue advanced by beating Xavier 88-78. UConn and Notre Dame round out the rest of the field still standing. The last appearance in the Final Four for SMS was in 1992.