The Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears are the athletic teams representing

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

(formerly Southwest Missouri State University). Missouri State's athletics programs date back to 1908. Missouri State competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The majority of sports play in the Division I Missouri Valley Conference. Missouri State football competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, while Men's Swimming and Diving competes in the Mid-American Conference, and the beach volleyball team is a member of the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association. Missouri State athletics are frequently abbreviated as "MOST" when televised.

Sports sponsored

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State University sponsors six men's and 11 women's teams in NCAA sanctioned sports.

National championships

Team

Women's basketball NCAA tournament results

NCAA Tournament appearances

WNIT appearances

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, 2005 (Champions),

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

AIAW tournament appearances

Missouri AIAW state tournament: 1970–1982 (won 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1981 tournaments)
AIAW Region VI tournament: 1974, 1975, 1981
AIAW Division II national tournament: 1981

Conference championships

Gateway Conference (1983–1992) 2
1991, 1992 Missouri Valley Conference (1992–present) 12
1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2020, 2021

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 ***3 Sweet 16 Appearances **1 WNIT Appearance *

Katie Abrahamson-Henderson Kay Noel "Katie" Abrahamson-Henderson (born December 23, 1966) is the current head coach of the University of Georgia's women's basketball team. Early years Abrahamson-Henderson attended Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, graduating ...

(5 seasons, 95–61), 2002–2007 **3 NCAA Tournament Appearances **WNIT Championship *

Nyla Milleson Nyla Milleson (born September 8, 1962) is the athletic director at Drury University and the former women's basketball head coach of Missouri State University and George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) i ...

(5 seasons, 105–87), 2007–2013 **3 WNIT Appearances *

Kellie Harper Kellie Jolly Harper (born May 3, 1977) is an American basketball coach who is currently the head women's basketball coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols. Prior to coaching at Tennessee, she served as head coach of Missouri State, NC State, and Weste ...

(6 seasons, 118–79), 2013–2019 **2 NCAA Appearances **3 WNIT Appearances * Amaka Agugua-Hamilton (2 season, 49-7), 2019–present **1 NCAA Appearance ***1 Sweet Sixteen 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

Facilities

Club sports

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

NCRHA The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association (NCRHA) is an "incorporated not-for-profit corporation" which operates a national collegiate inline hockey Sports league, league consisting of five divisions of competition (Division I, Division II ...

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 I level of the

American Collegiate Hockey Association The American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) is a college ice hockey association. The ACHA's purpose is to be an organization of collegiate affiliated non-varsity programs, which provides structure, regulates operations, and promotes qualit ...

(ACHA) in the

Western Collegiate Hockey League The Western Collegiate Hockey League (WCHL) is a Division 1 collegiate ice hockey league in the ACHA, which is the highest non-varsity Club Level for college hockey. The ACHL is made up of ten teams from the Western United States. History In 2 ...

(WCHL). The teams play off-campus at the 2,000-seat

Mediacom Ice Park Jordan Valley Ice Park is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Springfield, Missouri. The arena is owned and operated by the Springfield-Greene County Park Board and serves as a location for community recreation and the home for the Missouri S ...

. 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.
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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 and was a member of the

Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference The Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC) was a conference in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA). The GRLC incorporated teams in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern regi ...

(GRLC) through 2017 before it moved to Division II of the Lone Star Alliance (LSA) in 2018. The Bears have been conference champions five times in their history (2004, 2009, 2010, 2017, and 2018) and have qualified for the MCLA National Championships on four occasions (2009, 2010, 2017, and 2018). The Bears finished the 2018 season with a record of 12-3, including a perfect 6-0 conference record and victories over Creighton, Baylor, and in-state rival University of Missouri. Since 2003, Missouri State has fielded 11 All-Americans, over 80 All-Conference players, 3 GRLC Tournament MVP's, and 4 GRLC Division II Coach's of the Year.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Missouri State Bears, color=white , list = {{Missouri Valley Conference navbox {{Missouri Valley Football Conference navbox {{Mid-American Conference navbox {{Coastal Collegiate Sports Association navbox {{Missouri Sports