Missouri State University

Nov. 21, 2012

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico -- Christiana Shorter has 18 points, and the Missouri State Lady Bears have made 51.4 percent of their shots to lead 39-22 at the half over Central Florida in the Hardwood Tournament of Hope.

After falling behind 5-2 in the first two-and-a-half minutes, the Lady Bears reeled off 12 unanswered points to lead 14-5 at the 11:07 mark as five different players contributed to the scoring during the outburst.

Midway through the first stanza, Coach Nyla Milleson's troops pulled further ahead with a 9-2 sequence. Kenzie Williams' putback with just over six minutes left in the half put the Lady Bears on top 27-13 at the time.

Shorter and Wilkerson, who had 8 points in the first 20 minutes, combined to score the team's final 12 points of the half. Wilkerson's buzzer-beater gave MSU its largest lead of the evening.

The Lady Bears were 18-for-35 from the field and 0-for-6 from bonus distance. MSU also overcame a marginal 3-for-6 (.500) effort at the charity stripe with a 28-24 rebounding advantage.

UCF was led by Briahanna Jackson's 10 points. The Knights were 6-for-38 (.158) from the field and 1-for-5 (.200) from 3-point distance with a 9-for-14 (.643) effort at the line.

The winner of the game takes on UC Santa Barbara for fifth place on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., while the loser gets Mississippi State in the seventh-place game at 1 p.m.