Batavia grad Fruendt shoots Missouri State into NCAA tourney

Heading into last weekend's Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament, Missouri State's Liza Fruendt had already enjoyed a superb sophomore season.

It got a whole lot better on Sunday.

Now, she's being fitted for dancing shoes.

Fruendt, a 5-foot-10 guard who was a standout during her high school playing days at Batavia, poured in 16 points off the bench to help lead the Lady Bears to a 71-58 triumph over top-seeded Northern Iowa in the MVC tournament title game held Sunday afternoon at the iWireless Center in Moline.

With the win, Missouri State punched a ticket to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament - its first appearance since 2007.

"The past 24 hours have been crazy," said Fruendt just prior to Monday evening's Tournament Selection Show on ESPN. "It has been awesome. It's something you dream about as a kid.

"The energy being around the girls is tremendous. We've fought through so many ups and downs this season."

The 13th-seeded Lady Bears open first-round play at 3 p.m. Saturday against 4th-seeded Texas A&M (21-9) in College Station, Texas.

"We're excited," said Fruendt, who is on pace to become the ninth player in school history to average double figures as both a freshman and sophomore.

Fruendt earned a spot on the all-tournament team, scoring 16 points in Missouri State's 70-45 first-round victory over Indiana State last Friday and adding 11 points in the Lady Bears' 65-61 semifinal triumph over Drake on Saturday.

"It's an age-old cliché but defense won us this tournament championship," said Fruendt. "Our defense has really improved the last three or four weeks."

Fruendt also received plenty of family support last weekend from her parents, Joel and Suzanne; brother, Nick; sister, Sara; sister-in-law, Ariel; and grandfather, Herman.

"They've been really supportive," said Liza. "They were all wearing their 'Fru Cru' shirts."

Fruendt has enjoyed a whirlwind month that included her hitting a pair of last-second 3-pointers to send games into overtime in February.

On Feb. 5, Fruendt canned a game-tying 3-pointer with 21.4 seconds remaining during Missouri State's eventual 78-75 win at Northern Iowa.

A week later, she connected on a game-tying 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in regulation during the Lady Bears' 91-81 victory over Loyola.

"It just happened to be me taking the shots but it could have been three or four or five other players on our team," said Fruendt.

Last week, she earned a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team. The administrative management major owns a 3.78 GPA.

In 33 games, Fruendt currently averages 11.2 points while coming off the bench (she ranks second in the MVC in scoring among non-starters).

"From the outside looking in, you want to be that college starter but everybody has to have a role," she said. "My job is to bring us energy off the bench."

On the men's side, St. Charles East graduate Kendall Stephens is also going dancing for the second consecutive year as a member of the Purdue University basketball squad.

Stephens, a 6-foot-7 junior guard, is the Boilermakers' sixth-leading scorer this season, averaging 6.1 points per game.

Purdue (26-8), which tied for third in the final Big Ten Conference standings (12-6), dropped a 66-62 decision to Michigan State in the conference championship contest Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis.

Coach Matt Painter's Boilermakers received the No. 5 seed in the Midwest Regional and will face 12th-seeded Arkansas-Little Rock (29-4) at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Pepsi Coliseum in Denver.

With a pair of tournament victories, Stephens could enjoy a homecoming of sorts - the Midwest Regional semifinals and finals are March 25 and 27 in Chicago at the United Center.

Appearing in 24 of the Boilermakers' 34 games this year, Stephens scored a season-high 14 points on two occasions. He hit four 3-pointers in Purdue's season-opening 81-40 victory over North Carolina A&T on Nov. 13 and added 14 points in 16 minutes of action with four 3-pointers in the Boilermakers' 93-55 triumph over Howard on Dec. 9.

Stephens, who has scored 698 points in 3 seasons, ranks eighth on the school's all-time list with 175 career 3-point field goals. Chicago Bulls guard E'Twaun Moore is Purdue's career leader with 243 3-pointers.

Another St. Charles East product, Cole Gentry, is a redshirt freshman guard on South Dakota State's basketball team.

The 12th-seeded Jackrabbits (26-7) earned an NCAA Tournament berth with a 67-59 win over North Dakota State in last week's Summit League Tournament Championship.

South Dakota State opens tourney action at 3:30 p.m. Friday against No. 5 Maryland in Spokane, Wash.

Incidentally, Elgin High graduate Kory Brown scored 5 points for North Dakota State in the loss to South Dakota State.

While their teams have been eliminated, several area high school players will put on their uniforms at least one more time.

St. Charles East's Grayson Brucato, Larkin's Pierre Black, Streamwood's Jason Meadows, and Prairie Ridge's Christopher Bradshaw will compete in the IHSA's Class 4A Three-Point Showdown Thursday evening at Peoria's Carver Arena.

Burlington Central's Zach Schutta will compete in the Class 3A Three-Point Showdown.

You can reach Craig Brueske at csb4k@hotmail.com