The Missouri Southern women's basketball team held tough down the stretch and solid defense mixed with free throws helped the Lions defeat Lindenwood 68-63 on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center Wednesday night.
Southern (19-6, 13-5 MIAA) was led offensively by 22 points from Nic Hartzog (pictured). She went 10-10 from the free throw line and dished out three assists. Lex Fitzpatrick scored 11 on 4-7 shooting and 3-4 from long range, while Jordan scored eight and Kenya Brown dished out a career-high four assists. All four assists from Brown led to three pointers.
Lindenwood (11-15, 4-12 MIAA) had four score in double-figures led by 14 points each from Jenny Rocha and Kassidy Gengenbacher, while Vanessa Zailo and Kyle Ferguson scored 12 each.
Both teams started out on fire and traded baskets early on as a jumper from Lindenwood tied the game at 11 at the 15:15 mark. Southern went on an 8-0 run with back-to-back three's from Fitzpatrick to jump ahead 19-11 at the 13:10 mark and MSSU led by 11 (27-16) after a three from Dinyer with 9:32 left in the half.
Lindenwood cut the lead to five (32-27) with 5:43 to go, but a 5-0 run from Southern, capped by another three from Dinyer, put the Lions up ten with 2:57 to go. The Lions went into the locker room with an eight-point advantage.
Southern led by six (43-37) after a layup from Hartzog with 17:59 left in the second half, but Lindenwood chipped away at the lead and took a one-point lead (44-43) with 16:11 to go, but a 5-0 run by Southern gave MSSU a four-point lead 48-44 with just under 15 minutes left.
Lindenwood led by four (52-48) with 11 minutes to go, but the Lions went on a 6-0 run and led 54-52 after a layup from Sharp with 7:52 to go in the game. Back-to-back layups from Hartzog gave the Lions a 62-57 lead with 4:53 to go in the game.
A third layup from Hartzog pushed the score to 64-57, but Lindenwood scored six in a row to get within one with a minute to go, forcing a Southern timeout. A couple made free throws from Hartzog along with a block and a fast-break layup from Sharp sealed the win for the Lions.
Southern shot 44 percent from the field, 47 percent from long-range and 86 percent from the free throw line. MSSU held a 32-26 advantage in the paint and scored 21 points off of 18 Lindenwood turnovers. With the exception of a pair of free throws from Sharese Jones in the second half, the rest of the Lions' 27 points in the second half were scored entirely by the senior class.
Southern will be back in action on Saturday when MSSU plays host to Lincoln for Senior Day. Southern will honor the five seniors on the roster. Tip off is slated for 1 pm.
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