Wednesday, January 6, 2016

MSSU women return home to face SBU

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

The Missouri Southern Women will return home to face Southwest Baptist with a 5:30 p.m. tip off on Thursday on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Last Time Out for The Lions
Hays, Kan. - The Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team dropped their third straight game on Monday night at Gross Memorial Coliseum 68-60 to top ranked Fort Hays State.
The Lions (9-5, 3-5 MIAA) took the early lead as sophomoreDru Clark got the scoring started with a lay-up just 20 seconds into the contest. Fort Hays State answered with a 6-0 run before senior Sharese Jonessank a pair of free throws to cut the lead to two and followed that up with a layup on the next Southern possession for a 6-6 tie. Jones scored eight of her 10 first half points in the opening stanza as the Lions trailed number one Fort Hays State 15-12 after the first.
The Tigers started the second quarter on a 7-0 run to open a 22-12 advantage before senior Tami Morice converted on a three point play to cut the lead back down to seven with just over seven minutes left in the half. Jones hit a lay-up to cut the lead to five with 6:11 left in the half and following the trading of free throws junior Deb Holcomb sank a jumper to cut the lead to three at 23-20 with just over four minutes until the break. After a free throw from senior Kenya Wilson-Browncut the lead down to two at 23-21 FHSU went on a 10-0 run over the last 3:43 to take a 33-21 lead into the locker room.
Coming out of the locker room the Lions and Tigers traded punches for the first two minutes with each scoring a pair of buckets before Taylor Chandler and Chelsea Mason gave FHSU their largest lead of the night at 41-26 with just under seven minutes left in the half. Freshman Desirea Burege made a lay-up off the assist from Wilson-Brown to cut the lead to 41-28. A 13-2 run by the Lions over the next five minutes cut the lead to two at 43-41, Holcomb scored six of her team high 19 during the run. After back-to-back buckets from FHSU's Paige Lunsford, Clark sank a lay-up as time expired in the third to make it a 47-43 ball game.
Freshman Chelsey Henry started the fourth quarter with a lay-up as the Lions clawed back within two at 47-45. Fort Hays State used a 6-0 run to go back up eight at 53-45, before Holcomb's jumper at the 4:01 mark ended that run and that would be the closest the Lions would get before Clark hit a three pointer at the buzzer to make it 68-60.
For the game, the Lions shot 51 percent (24-for-47) from the field but only 50 percent (10-for-20) from the charity stripe. FHSU out rebounded the Lions 42-31 but the Lions out dished the Tigers 14-7 with Wilson-Brown leading the way with six. She now leads the MIAA with 73 assists on the season and entering tonight was 21st in all of NCAA D-II.

Last Time Out for The Bearcats
Warrensburg, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team came up just short in a 77-74 loss at Central Missouri on Monday evening. With the loss, SBU drops to 7-5 (2-4 MIAA) on the season.
Central Missouri came out of the gate with a pair of buckets early on, but Southwest Baptist answered back with an Ashlee Pitts jumper to tie the game at 6-6. The Bearcats then used a 9-2 run to take a 15-8 lead, as Megan Rosenbohm connected on a pair of layups to help fuel the run. UCM used back-to-back baskets to cut the SBU lead to two, but a Sarah Maganalayup and a Alex Botkin three pushed the SBU lead back to seven (20-13) before SBU took a 20-16 lead after the first quarter.
In the second quarter SBU once again pushed their lead back to seven off of an old fashioned three-point play from Rosenbohm to lead 25-18 with 8:58 left in the half. UCM continued to fight, cutting the SBU down to 1 (25-24) with 7:09 left in the half, and tied the contest (32-32) with 2:12 left in the half. SBU used a 9-2 run to close out the half, with three's from Magana and Dilonna Johnson along with a shots from Richardson and Johnson, to take a 41-34 lead into the break.
In the second half SBU held a small advantage for the first five minutes of the third quarter, leading 51-47 off of a Mackenzie Skupa layup, but UCM started to heat up. The Mules ended the third quarter on a 14-3 run as SBU trailed 61-54 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bearcats responded right away in the fourth quarter, starting off with a 7-1 run to cut the deficit down to 1 (62-61) with 8:10 left in the game. After a UCM free throw, Morgan Lucyconnected on a layup from Dilonna Johnson to tie the game at 63-63. UCM pushed their lead back to four, but a three from Ashlee Pitts brought it back to one (68-67) with 4:19 left. The Jennies again pushed their lead back up to six (74-68), but three free throws from Rosenbohm, a UCM free throw, and a Rosenbohm three put SBU down 75-74 with 36 seconds left in the contest. After a UCM turnover, the Bearcats were unable to convert, causing SBU to foul as the Bearcats would eventually fall 77-74.
Megan Rosenbohm led the way for SBU with 17 points off of the bench, while Dilonna Johnson had 14 points, 7 assists, and 4 steals. Mackenzie Skupa added 10 points whileSarah Magana had 9 points and 4 assists in the loss. As a team, SBU shot 43.3% from the field, 31.8% from beyond the arc, and 75.0% from the line.

The Series
This is the 64th meeting between the Lions and SBU, the third longest running series behind Pittsburg State and Missouri Western (84 meetings). The Lions lead the series against Southwest Baptist, 42-21. The Lions lead the overall series with the Bearcats in Joplin 27-5, but Southwest Baptist holds a slight lead in Bolivar, Mo. 16-15. The Lions longest winning streak was 14 games, from Jan. 21, 1976 thru Feb. 3, 1989. The longest winning streak for Southwest Baptist was six, from Jan. 7, 1998 thru Feb. 9, 2000. Last season the Lions swept the series with Southern winning 79-61 in Bolivar and 58-55 at home.

Last Time vs. Southwest Baptist
Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern women's basketball team held off a late surge from visiting
Southwest Baptist tonight and the Lions won 58-55 on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt
Athletic Center.
Southern (17-6, 11-5 MIAA) was led offensively by Nic Hartzogas the senior had 14 points.
Sharese Jones scored 11 points, while Jordan Dinyer added seven points and eight rebounds.
Southern scored the games' first ten points, capped by a layup from Hartzog, but SBU then turned
in an 8-2 run and cut the Lions' lead to just four (12-8) at the 11:45 minute mark of the first half.
The Lions came right back and answered that run with back-to-back buckets and led 16-8 after
a layup from Jones with 10:23 to go. The game was tied at 16 at the 6:50 mark, but the Lions took
a 23-18 lead just a little over a minute later with another layup from Jones. A pair of freebies from
Jones with 39 seconds left gave the Lions a 28-22 lead at the break.
Southern started the second half on a 7-2 run and led 35-24 at the first media timeout after
a layup from Lacerda, but a 10-0 run from the Bearcats made the score 35-34 with just over 12
minutes left.
A three from Shawnee Phillips stopped the run and put the Lions back on top at 38-36 with just
under 11 minutes to play, and another three from Phillips, the next trip down made the score
41-37.
A three from Jolee Sharp with just under four to go put the Lions up 54-49, but a three from SBU
with 49 seconds to go gave the bearcats a 55-54 lead. On the ensuing possession, Lacerda hit a
running jumper in the lane to put the Lions back up 56-55. After a missed shot by SBU, Hartzog
came up with the rebound with 4.8 seconds to go and was fouled sending her to the free throw
line. Hartzog made both, while at the other end, Sharp blocked a three-point attempt to secure the
win.

The Coaches
MSSU
Ronda Hubbard is in her 15th year on the staff at Missouri Southern and her third year at the helm. During her 15 years with the Lions, she has helped the team to a 238-163 record, including a 48-20 record in her first two plus seasons at the helm of the Lions program. Last season's 20 wins was the first time the women's team had won 20 games since the 1995-96 season.

Southwest Baptist
Kelsey Keizer will begin her second year (2015-16) as the Head Coach of the Women's Basketball program after spending the previous three years as the top assistant coach. Kelsey holds a career coaching record of 9-18 (4-15 MIAA).
In her first season on the bench, Kelsey led the Bearcats to a 9-18 (4-15 MIAA) record while also helping Junior Guard, Dilonna Johnson, to a spot on MIAA All-Conference Honorable Mention team. Her team also placed 11 players on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll during the 2014-15 season.

Probable Starters
Southwest Baptist (7-5, 2-4 MIAA)
3 Caylee Richardson F 6-2 Fr. Hesston, Kan.
4 Alex Botkin G 5-7 Jr. Republic, Mo.
10 Dilonna Johnson G 5-7 Sr. Milwaukee, Wisc.
20 Sarah Magana G 5-6 Sr. Bolivar, Mo.
22 Mackenzie Skupa F 6-2 Jr. Campbell, Neb.

Missouri Southern (9-5, 3-5 MIAA)
1 Dru Clark G 5-7 So. Collinsville, Okla.
11 Kenya Wilson-Brown G 5-5 Sr. Arlington, Texas
21 Desirea Buerge F 6-0 Fr. Webb City, Mo.
24 Deb Holcomb G 5-7 Jr. Dallas, Texas
44 Sharese Jones G 5-8 Sr. St. Charles, Mo.

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