SPRINGFIELD, Mo. >> Kierra Harris threw for three touchdowns and ran in another to lead Missouri State to its first conference win Saturday, 31-12 over South Dakota.

Harris finished 8 of 19 for 143 yards passing, finding Malik Earl for a 53-yard TD, Gannon Sinclair for a 29-yarder and Julian Burton for a 12-yard score. Harris also led the Bears (5-3, 2-2 Missouri Valley) in rushing with 90 yards on seven carries, including a 20-yard TD scramble in the third quarter. Marcelo Bonani had a 32-yard field goal.

South Dakota (2-6, 0-4) scored first with a 47-yard field goal by Miles Bergner in the first quarter but didn’t score again until midway through the third quarter when he kicked a 34-yarder. Jasper Sanders punched in a TD from the 5 in the final seconds of the game to narrow the gap but the two-point conversion failed.