MARYVILLE, Mo.-The Missouri Southern State University women's basketball team is now on the cusp of clinching a spot in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) postseason tournament after defeating Northwest Missouri State University 58-42 on Thursday night.
With the win, Southern improves to 9-15 overall and 6-10 MIAA while Northwest falls to 11-14 overall and 6-10 in the MIAA.
The two teams are now tied for ninth in the overall standings with the ten teams qualifying for the post season tournament. The Lions hold the tiebreaker over the Bearcats by sweeping the season series. Newman, the only other team that can catch the Lions, stayed alive with a 68-67 win over Emporia on Thursday night.
The Lions, who had nine scorers in the contest, were led Layne Skiles and Amber Buch who each had 10 points each. Madi Stokes led the rebounding effort with nine. In the contest, MSSU hit 22-of-50 (44 percent) from the field including 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) from beyond the arch.
The Bearcats were led by Erika Schlosser, who had ten points. The Bearcats hit 14-of-58 (24.1 percent) from the field and 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) from the field.
The Lions' defense stood tall early as they held the Bearcats scoreless in the opening 6:14 of the game. Southern took a 9-4 advantage into the second quarter after holding the Bearcats 1-for-10 from the field in the first stanza.
Southern kept the pressure up in the second quarter as the lead swelled to 14-4 and the Lions led by as many as 12 points thanks in part to an 8-0 run. Emily Kuntze set a career-high in points within the first 13 minutes of the game by cashing in on back-to back treys to give her six points within 1:22. MSSU was able to ride out a scoring drought as they led 24-18 at the half.
Kaiulani Jones hit her 12th triple of the season to start the Lions' scoring in the second half to fend off the Bearcats quick start and make the score 27-23. Destiny Cozart got into the scoring column with a three-pointer of her own to extend the lead to seven points, 30-23. Southern closed out the first half by holding Northwest scoreless for 7:18 of the third quarter and they led 36-25. The Lion's defense held Northwest to 3-of-16 (24.1 percent) from the field in the quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the two squads trade treys but MSSU grew the lead to 16 points before and held on for the win.
The Lions will be back in action on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. when they travel to St. Joseph, Mo. for a date with Missouri Western.
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