1991–92 Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team

The 1991–92 Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team represented Southwest Missouri State University during the 1991–92 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears, led by fifth-year head coach Cheryl Burnett, played their home games at Hammons Student Center and were members of the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference.

1991–92 Southwest Missouri State Lady Bears basketball
Gateway regular season and tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 10
Record	31–3 (17–1 GCAC)
Head coach	Cheryl Burnett (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Marla Douglass Jim Middleton Lynette Robinson
Home arena	Hammons Student Center

1991–92 Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference women's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 10 SW Missouri State †	17	–	1		.944			31	–	3		.912
Southern Illinois	14	–	4		.778			23	–	8		.742
Bradley	11	–	7		.611			17	–	11		.607
Illinois State	11	–	7		.611			14	–	14		.500
Wichita State	10	–	8		.556			13	–	16		.448
Drake	7	–	11		.389			11	–	15		.423
Indiana State	7	–	11		.389			10	–	17		.370
Western Illinois	5	–	13		.278			9	–	18		.333
Eastern Illinois	4	–	14		.222			8	–	19		.296
Northern Iowa	3	–	15		.167			4	–	23		.148
† 1992 GCAC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

They finished the season 31–3 and 17–1 in conference play to win the regular season title. As the top seed in the conference tournament, they defeated Bradley in the semifinals of Southern Illinois in the championship game. They received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and, despite being the No. 10 ranked team in the country, were assigned the No. 8 seed in the Midwest region. They defeated No. 9 seed Kansas, No. 1 seed Iowa, No. 5 seed UCLA, and No. 2 seed Ole Miss to reach the first Final Four in program history. The Lady Bears were defeated by Western Kentucky in the National semifinals.

As part of their 21-game winning streak (part of 31 wins in a 32-game span), Southwest Missouri State spent the final thirteen weeks of the season ranked in both major polls. The team was ranked in the top 10 for the final month, and had a final ranking in the Coach's poll of No. 4.

Roster

1991–92 Missouri State Bears women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown G 10 Amy Nelson (C) 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Sr Edwardsville Edwardsville, Illinois G/F 15 Charity Shira 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Sr Fair Grove Rice Fair Grove, Missouri F 22 Karen Rapier (C) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Sr Jefferson City Jefferson City, Missouri G/F 23 Secelia Winkfield 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Jr Blue Springs Blue Springs, Missouri G 30 Tina Robbins 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) So Joplin Duenweg, Missouri F 32 Julie Howard 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Marshfield Marshfield, Missouri C 34 Heidi Muller 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Sr Clarinda Clarinda, Iowa G 35 Melody Howard 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Marshfield Marshfield, Missouri F/C Tonya Baucom 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr Pleasanton Pleasanton, Kansas F Angenette Sumrall 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Lincoln East St. Louis, Illinois C 54 Chrissy Ediger 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr Aurora Aurora, Missouri	Head coach Cheryl Burnett (Kansas) Assistant coach(es) Marla Douglass Jim Middleton Lynette Robinson Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule

Source:

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
November 11, 1991*		German National	W 78–68	–	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
November 15, 1991*		Athletes in Action	L 75–82	–	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
Non-conference regular season
November 23, 1991*		at No. 12 Texas	L 64–76	0–1	Frank Erwin Center  Austin, Texas
November 29, 1991*		Idaho State St. John’s/Quality Inn Classic	W 92–45	1–1	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
November 30, 1991*		Texas A&M St. John’s/Quality Inn Classic	W 83–78	2–1	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
December 3, 1991*		Iowa State	W 77–43	3–1	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
December 11, 1991*		at Kansas State	W 66–49	4–1	Bramlage Coliseum  Manhattan, Kansas
December 13, 1991*		Idaho	W 97–46	5–1	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
December 20, 1991*	No. 25	at UNLV UNLV Showboat Shootout	W 80–77	6–1	Thomas & Mack Center  Las Vegas, Nevada
December 21, 1991*	No. 25	vs. Pepperdine UNLV Showboat Shootout	W 75–58	7–1	Thomas & Mack Center  Las Vegas, Nevada
December 30, 1991*	No. 24	at No. 25 Arkansas	W 67–52	8–1	Barnhill Arena  Fayetteville, Arkansas
Conference regular season
January 2, 1992	No. 24	Eastern Illinois	W 80–32	9–1 (1–0)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
January 4, 1992	No. 24	Southern Illinois	W 90–63	10–1 (2–0)	Hammons Student Center (9,108) Springfield, Missouri
January 9, 1992	No. 20	at Illinois State	L 73–79	10–2 (2–1)	Redbird Arena  Normal, Illinois
January 11, 1992	No. 20	at Indiana State	W 77–53	11–2 (3–1)	Hulman Center  Terre Haute, Indiana
January 15, 1992	No. 23	Bradley	W 65–33	12–2 (4–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
January 18, 1992	No. 23	Western Illinois	W 97–74	13–2 (5–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
January 25, 1992	No. 19	Wichita State	W 98–64	14–2 (6–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
January 30, 1992	No. 18	at Drake	W 64–60	15–2 (7–1)	Veterans Memorial Auditorium  Des Moines, Iowa
February 1, 1992	No. 18	at Northern Iowa	W 89–44	16–2 (8–1)	UNI-Dome  Cedar Falls, Iowa
February 6, 1992	No. 16	Indiana State	W 91–57	17–2 (9–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
February 8, 1992	No. 16	Illinois State	W 67–47	18–2 (10–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
February 13, 1992	No. 12	at Western Illinois	W 109–45	19–2 (11–1)	Western Hall  Macomb, Illinois
February 15, 1992	No. 12	at Bradley	W 92–63	20–2 (12–1)	Robertson Memorial Field House  Peoria, Illinois
February 22, 1992	No. 12	Wichita State	W 84–53	21–2 (13–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
February 27, 1992	No. 10	Northern Iowa	W 86–45	22–2 (14–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
February 29, 1992	No. 10	Drake	W 77–60	23–2 (15–1)	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
March 5, 1992	No. 10	at Southern Illinois	W 73–63	24–2 (16–1)	SIU Arena  Carbondale, Illinois
March 7, 1992	No. 10	at Eastern Illinois	W 73–61	25–2 (17–1)	Lantz Arena  Charleston, Illinois
GCAC tournament
March 11, 1992*	(1) No. 10	(4) Bradley Semifinal	W 88–59	26–2	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
March 14, 1992*	(1) No. 10	(2) Southern Illinois Championship game	W 86–69	27–2	Hammons Student Center  Springfield, Missouri
NCAA tournament
March 18, 1992*	(8 MW) No. 10	(9 NW) No. 17 Kansas First round	W 75–59	28–2	Hammons Student Center (7,652) Springfield, Missouri
Mar 22, 1992*	(8 MW) No. 10	at (1 MW) No. 7 Iowa Second round	W 61–60 OT	29–2	Carver-Hawkeye Arena (8,693) Iowa City, Iowa
Mar 26, 1992*	(8 MW) No. 10	vs. (5 MW) UCLA Regional Semifinal – Elite Eight	W 83–57	30–2	Coors Events/Conference Center (3,532) Boulder, Colorado
Mar 28, 1992*	(8 MW) No. 10	vs. (2 MW) No. 5 Ole Miss Regional final – Elite Eight	W 94–71	31–2	Coors Events/Conference Center (3,566) Boulder, Colorado
April 4, 1992*	(8 MW) No. 10	vs. (4 ME) No. 15 Western Kentucky National semifinal – Final Four	L 72–84	31–3	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (12,421) Los Angeles California
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 1991–92 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings