The 2026–27 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team will represent Missouri State University during the 2026–27 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears will be led by fifth-year head coach Beth Cunningham, and will play their home games at the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Missouri as second-year members of Conference USA.
Previous season
The Lady Bears finished the 2025–26 season 23–13 and 11–7 in C-USA play to finish sixth in the conference. In the C-USA tournament, they beat No. 3 Middle Tennessee in the quarterfinals, No. 2 FIU in the semifinals and No. 1 Louisiana Tech in the championship game to capture the conference title in their first season as members of Conference USA. They became the lowest seed to ever win the tournament title, tied with Tulsa, who won in 2013 also as a No. 6 seed.
As the conference's winner, the Lady Bears earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first since 2022. As the No. 16 seed in the Fort Worth #3 Regional, they won their First Four game against Stephen F. Austin before losing to No. 1 Texas in the First Round.
Offseason Departures Missouri State departures Victoria Dixon 0 Guard 5'5" Senior Grand Prairie, TX Graduated Zoe Canfield 5 Guard 5'11" Sophomore Topeka, KS Transferred to Oklahoma State Faith Lee 11 Forward 5'11" Senior Monroe, LA Graduated Tyra Robinson 12 Forward 6'3" Junior Little Rock, AR Transferred to SIU Edwardsville Maycee James 13 Guard 5'7" Senior Goddard, KS Graduated Angel Scott 20 Guard 5'10" Senior Edmond, OK Graduated Cady Pauley 32 Guard 5'11" Senior Milan, MO Graduated
Incoming transfers Missouri State incoming transfers Landon Forbes 5 Guard 5'6" Senior Wichita, KS Morehead State Macie Mays 13 Guard 5'11" Junior El Dorado Springs, MO Pittsburg State (D-II) Hannah Linthacum 34 Forward 6'4" Junior Jefferson City, MO Missouri
Recruiting class There was no recruiting class for 2026.
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=12 style=""| C-USA regular season
Sources:
References