MSSU women look to bounce back against Fort Hays State

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern Women look to bounce back against top-ranked Fort Hays State Monday evening at 5:30 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Last Time Out for the Lions
Kearney, Neb. - The Missouri Southern Women couldn't over come a slow start as they fell 65-50 to the University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers Saturday night on Buckle Court inside the Health & Sports Center.
After shooing just 11 percent in the second half against Washburn the Lions (9-4, 3-4 MIAA) suffered through a cold first half at UNK (6-6, 2-5 MIAA) as they managed to shoot 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the field including a 1-for-9 performance from three point range.The first quarter went back and forth as Southern tied the Lopers three times. SeniorSharese Jones tied the game at 3-3 with 8:55 to go in the first on a free throw, junior Deb Holcomb tied it at 10-10 with 4:11 to play on a jumper, and sophomore Bri Shavers tied the game at 12-12 on a post move with 2:25 to play in the quarter. UNK closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 16-12 lead into the quarter break.
In the second quarter the Lopers extended their lead to 23-12 following a pair of free throws by Kennedy Sander and a three pointer and lay-up from Laramey Becker. Southern chipped away with a three pointer and a fast break jumper from freshman Chelsey Henry to cut the lead to five at 25-20 with 1:56 until intermission. UNK again answered with a 6-0 run to push their lead to 31-20 with lay-ups from Courtney Aitken and Bri Starks and a jumper from Becker.
The third quarter started with a three pointer from Jones and a lay-up by Shavers from senior Kenya Wilson-Brown to cut the Loper lead to six, 31-25. However, UNK answered with their own 8-0 run and pushed their lead to 16 at 41-25 with 6:03 left in the quarter. A Loper jumper from Starks with 2:54 to play gave UNK their largest lead of the game at 48-30 before the Lions would cut it down to 14 off a pair of free throws by Jones and a jumper from sophomore Dru Clark. The Lopers and Southern traded buckets to end the third with freshman Desirea Buerge scoring the lone Lions goal with just over 30 seconds left in the quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Lions get as close at 11 three times on a three pointer from Holcomb at the 8:24 mark, a jumper by Shavers with 5:10 to play, and a free throw from sophomore Jenson Maydew with 1:30 left. UNK dominated the fourth out scoring the Lions in the paint 10-6 and 7-3 on second chance points.
Jones led the Lions with 15 points and seven rebounds. Wilson-Brown pulled down six boards to go with her five assists and three points while playing all 40 minutes. UNK was led by Becker with 21 points and 10 rebounds and McKenzie Brown added 11.

Last Time Out for the Tigers
HAYS, Kan. - Fort Hays State outscored Pittsburg State 22-7 in the second quarter leading to a 20-point halftime lead and eventual 20-point win on Saturday (Jan. 2) in the first game back from holiday break. The No. 1 ranked Tigers won by a score of 77-57, improving to 11-1 overall and 5-1 in the MIAA, while Pittsburg State moved to 10-3 overall and 4-3 in the MIAA.
After leading 19-14 following the first quarter, FHSU went on a 10-0 run to open the second quarter to build a 29-14 lead. The Tigers went on another 8-0 burst later in the quarter to build a 23-point lead before a Pittsburg State 3-point field goal cut the lead back to 20 at halftime, 41-21.
The closest Pittsburg State came in the second half was 14 points with 7:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. FHSU pushed its lead to 23 two more times before the final margin rested at 20.
Chelsea Mason led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field and a 3-of-4 effort at the free-throw line. Jill Faxon added 13 points while leading the team in rebounds with seven. Beth Bohuslavsky added 10 points.Nikola Kacperska led the Tigers in assists with four.
Cathy Brugman led Pittsburg State with 17 points, going 7-of-11 from the field and she hit all three of her 3-point field goal attempts. Hadyn Herlocker added 11 points and six assists.
FHSU shot 47.5 percent overall, while limiting PSU to just 38.3 percent shooting. FHSU forced 18 turnovers out of PSU, while committing just six.

The Coaches
FHSU: Tony Dobson, 132-71 (8th Season) / 343-111 (15th Season)
MSSU: Ronda Hubbard, 48-19 (3rd Season)

The Series
Fort Hays State holds a 25-17 advantage over the Lions in the series history. The Tigers have won five out of the last six meetings against Southern including an 89-70 meeting in Hays to start the 2015 part of the 14-15 season. Fort Hays State holds the advantage in Hays, Kan. over the Lions at 17-4, with the Lions last win in Hays coming on Feb. 19, 2011 (62-53). Missouri Southern holds a 13-7 advantage over the Tigers in Joplin. FHSU has a 1-0 advantage on neutral sites as the 2014 MIAA Post-Season Tournament is the only time the two teams have met on a neutral court. The longest winning streak for FHSU was four, which was done twice in the 80s, (Jan. 18, 1980 - Feb. 20, 1982 and Feb. 6, 1987 - Jan. 20, 1989). Southern's longest winning streak is three (Feb. 20, 2010 - Feb. 19, 2011).

Last Time vs. Fort Hays State
Hays, Kan. - The 22nd ranked Missouri Southern Lions Women's Basketball team (8-3, 2-2 MIAA) couldn't over come cold shooting to start the game as they fell 89-70 to Fort Hays State (11-1, 4-0 MIAA) Saturday afternoon at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
The Lions got behind early 20-2 in the first eight minutes before they would close the lead to 13 twice in the half at 30-17 on a three pointer by Lex Fitzpatrick at the 6:57 mark and at 32-19 on a jumper by Fitzpatrick at the 5:44 mark.
Fort Hays State would push the halftime lead to 23 at 50-27 on a pair of free throws from Keriann Shaw with two seconds left to play in the half.
Kate Lehman would start the second half with a jumper to push the lead to 25 but the Lions would start to claw back asJordan Dinyer connected from downtown, and another three from Fitzpatrick, and a pair of free throws from Nic Hartzogwould get the lead under 20 at 54-35 with 17:16 to play. The three from Fitzpatrick would start an 11-0 run for the Lions as Hartzog would score the other eight to get the FHSU lead down to 13 at 54-41 with 13:42 to play. That would be the closest the Lions got as Lehman finished with 31 points, 20 in the first half.
Leading the way for the Lions with a season high was Hartzog with 23, Sharese Jones finished with 14 points, and Dinyer with 10. Jones pulled down her third double-double of the season as she led the team in rebounds with 10.
After starting 2-for-11 from the floor the Lions finished the first half shooting 7-of-22 for 31.8 percent, 3-for-7 from beyond the arc.
The second half proved much better for the Lions as they shot 12-for-23 for 52.2 percent to finish the game 19-of-45 for 42.2 percent. Southern hit 26 of the 27 free throws in the game for 96.3 percent.

Probable Starters
Missouri Southern (9-4, 3-4 MIAA)
11 Kenya Wilson-Brown G 5-5 Sr. (Arlington, Texas)
14 Tami Morice G 5-11 Sr. (Naperville, Ill.)
24 Deb Holcomb G 5-7 Jr. (Dallas, Texas)
30 Bri Shavers F 6-0 So. (Carrollton, Texas)
44 Sharese Jones G 5-8 Sr. (St. Charles, Mo.)

Fort Hays State (11-1, 5-1 MIAA)
3 Taylor Chandler G 5-5 R-Jr. (Wichita, Kan.)
5 Beth Bohuslavsky G 5-6 Sr. (Dwight, Neb.)
11 Chelsea Mason G 5-9 Sr. (Bellevue, Neb.)
32 Jill Faxon G 5-10 Jr. (Beatrice, Neb.)
35 Paige Lunsford G 5-11 Sr. (Hays, Kan.)