The Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team withstood a late barrage from Northwest Missouri to hold on for the 71-70 win Saturday afternoon on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
With the win the Lions (12-14, 7-10 MIAA) can not finish any worse than 7-12 in MIAA play which assures them of a MIAA Post-Season Tournament berth. The win also stops a five game skid that began with a 61-60 loss to Central Oklahoma on Jan. 28.
Sophomore Desirea Buerge (pictured) led Southern with 28 points, a new career high, and narrowly missed a double-double with eight rebounds. Fellow sophomore Chelsey Henry, no relation to Joplin Globe Sports Editor Jim Henry, came one point shy of a new career high herself finishing with 21 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Juniors Jasmine Green and Bri Shavers-McNeace each added eight for the Lions.
Despite the loss Northwest Missouri (8-16, 3-14 MIAA) still clings to a possible MIAA Post Season Tournament berth with two games left and trailing 12th place Lincoln (4-13 MIAA) by one game. The Bearcats were led by Tanya Meyer, who did not play in the earlier meeting between the two programs, with 26 points. Arbrie Benson added 14 while Caitlin Sudduth chipped in 12 and Jasmin Howe added 11 points.
Southern started the game with a free throw just nine seconds into the contest when Green was fouled driving to the hoop. From there the Lions opened a 5-0 lead before Northwest started to chip away and eventually gained an 8-7 lead with just over two and half minutes left in the opening quarter. Ninety seconds later Henry drained a three, her first of the day, to put Southern up 10-8 and the Lions never looked back.
The lead got up to nine halfway through the second quarter on a layup from Shavers-McNeace and a layup from Buerge with 4:04 before halftime made the lead double digits for the first time at 23-13. Buerge drained a three of her own on the next Southern possession which was answered right back with a Northwest three but a layup from junior Jenson Maydew and Henry's second three, a desperation heave to beat the shot clock from the top of the circle, sent the Lions into halftime with a 31-16 lead.
Southern out shot the Bearcats 31.3 percent (10-for-32) to 26.1 percent (6-for-23) in the first half. The Lions were also 3-for-9 from three point range while Northwest Missouri was just 2-for-11 and Southern got to the free throw line 11 times making eight compared to just two makes and attempts for the Bearcats. Henry led all scorers in the half with 12 points while Buerge added 10 while pulling down a half high six rebounds.
The third quarter scoring started out with a layup from Benson to cut the Missouri Southern lead to 13, 31-18, before two straight and one plays from Buerge gave Southern a 19 point lead, 37-18, just over two minutes into the period. The lead got up to 21, 44-23, on Henry's third three of the contest at the 5:33 mark and the Lions withstood the Northwest Missouri comeback as the Bearcats went on a 16-4 run to make it 51-45 with 7:49 left in the game. The Lions answered back with layups from Shavers-McNeace and Henry to push the lead back to ten, 55-41. The lead got back to 12. 62-50, with 3:52 to play on a pair of free throws from Buerge. The Bearcats used another run, this one 12-3, to cut the Southern lead down to three at 65-62 with under a minute to play. Southern and the Bearcats traded free throws for buckets down the stretch before a desperation heave from Suddath went in at the buzzer to make the final score 71-70.
Southern finished the game 24-for-60 (40 percent) from the field and went 4-for-15 from three point range, with Henry going 3-for-3 from downtown. Once again the Lions made more free throws than their opponents attempted 19-for-27 to 10-for-14 and the Bearcats out rebounded Southern 39-30. The Lions turned the ball over five times while forcing Northwest Missouri into 15 miscues.
Southern will return to action on Tuesday as they travel to take on currently 7th ranked Pittsburg State. Game time in Pittsburg, Kan. is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
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