Bill Barrett

WBB PREVIEW: Billikens Open Season at Missouri State

11/2/2025 2:02:00 PM

SLU Women's Basketball Game Notes & Information
Game No. 1	Saint Louis (0-0) at Missouri State (0-0)
Date // Time	Monday, Nov. 3, 2025 // 6:30 p.m. (CT)
Location	Springfield, Mo. (Great Southern Bank Arena)
Listen	SLUBillikens.com (Colin Suhre)
Stream	ESPN+
Live Stats	MissouriStateBears.com

SETTING THE SCENE

Saint Louis opens the season Monday evening, taking on Missouri State with a 6:30 p.m. tip at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+. Colin Suhre will have the free audio broadcast on SLUBillikens.com and the Billiken app.

BILLIKEN NOTABLES

Graduate student Alexia Nelson was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason third team. Nelson, a transfer with experience at Towson and UMBC, joined the Billikens through the portal.
The Billikens were picked to finish ninth in the A-10 women's basketball preseason poll.
Key returners include sophomore guards Mia Bergstrom and Hannah Wallace. Bergstrom ranked second on the team with 41 3-pointers last season and averaged 4.5 points per game.
Saint Louis added four freshmen — Jahda Denis, Jasaiyah Wallace, Alyssa Koerkenmeier and Zhykera Brown — all looking to make an immediate impact.
Graduate transfer Zya Nugent joins the Billikens after stints at Stephen F. Austin and West Virginia. At SFA, she won a WAC Tournament championship and earned tournament MVP honors.
Jada Tiggett, a transfer from North Carolina Central, was a member of the MEAC All-Defensive Team last season. She ranked among the nation's top 20 in blocks per game (2.3).
Ellie Paloucek, also a member of the SLU women's soccer team, will join the basketball squad following soccer season. She has been part of three A-10 championship and NCAA tournament teams.
Head coach Rebecca Tillett enters her fourth season at Saint Louis and eighth overall. In her first year at SLU in 2022-23, she guided the Billikens to their first A-10 Tournament title and NCAA appearance. She previously won a Big South crown at Longwood in 2021-22. Tillett holds a 54-55 record at SLU and a 105-123 mark overall.

ABOUT THE LADY BEARS

Missouri State finished 26-9 last season and went 16-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play to earn a share of the regular-season title in its final year in The Valley.
The Lady Bears made their 10th consecutive postseason appearance, advancing to the second round of the WBIT before falling to eventual champion Minnesota.
This marks Missouri State's first season in Conference USA, where it was picked to finish fourth in the preseason poll.
Senior transfer Faith Lee from Little Rock was named to the CUSA Preseason All-Conference Team after averaging 14.2 points per game last season.
The Lady Bears enter the season with a new look, replacing all five starters from last year's lineup. They return seven players, led by Kaemyn Bekemeier and Lainie Douglas, and add seven newcomers — four transfers and three freshmen.
Last season marked Missouri State's eighth consecutive 20-win campaign, a streak that ranks among just 13 Division I programs to achieve that feat — and the only one to do so under three different head coaches.

SERIES HISTORY

Saint Louis and Missouri State meet for the 20th time, dating back to 1975 — the inaugural season of Saint Louis women's basketball.
Missouri State holds a 15-4 advantage in the all-time series.
The Lady Bears defeated the Billikens 91-68 last season at Chaifetz Arena.