| Mode: | Women's Basketball |
| Year: | 2020–21 |
| Prev Year: | 2019–20 |
| Next Year: | 2021–22 |
| Team: | Missouri State Lady Bears |
| Conference: | Missouri Valley Conference |
| Short Conf: | The Valley |
| Coachrank: | 14 |
| Aprank: | 20 |
| Record: | 23–3 |
| Conf Record: | 16–0 |
| Head Coach: | Amaka Agugua-Hamilton |
| Hc Year: | 2nd |
| Asst Coach1: | Alysiah Bond |
| Asst Coach2: | Tori Jankoska |
| Asst Coach3: | CJ Jones |
| Stadium: | JQH Arena |
| Champion: | Missouri Valley Conference regular season |
| Bowl: | NCAA tournament |
| Bowl Result: | Sweet 16 |
The 2020–21 Missouri State Lady Bears basketball team represented Missouri State University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Lady Bears, led by second year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, played their home games at JQH Arena and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference.
They finished the season 23–3 and 16–0 in conference play to finish as Missouri Valley Conference champions. As the first seed in the Missouri Valley tournament, they defeated in the quarterfinals before having to forfeit their semifinal game.[1] They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and were the fifth seed in the Alamo Regional. They defeated twelve seed and thirteen seed before falling to the first seed Stanford in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Lady Bears finished the season 26–4, 16–2 in MVC play to finish in first place. The Missouri Valley tournament and NCAA tournament were cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.[2]
Source:[3]
|-!colspan=6 style=| Non-conference regular season|-!colspan=6 style=| Missouri Valley Conference Season|-!colspan=6 style=| Missouri Valley women's tournament|-!colspan=6 style=| NCAA tournament
See main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings.
| + Regular Season Polls | Poll | Pre- Season | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AP | 24 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 25 | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 21 | 20 | |
| Coaches | 25 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 20 | 19т | 17 | 17 | 17 | 14 |
| Increase in ranking | |||
| Decrease in ranking | |||
| Not ranked previous week | |||
| (RV) | Received Votes | ||
| (NR) | Not Ranked and Did not receive votes |
The Coaches Poll did not release a Week 2 poll and the AP Poll did not release a poll after the NCAA Tournament.