Missouri Southern women fall to Central Missouri 78-52

(From MSSU Lions Athletic News)

Warrensburg, Mo. - The Missouri Southern women's basketball team got double-figures from Kaitlin Hunnicutt and Carley Turnbull, but the Lions struggled offensively in a 78-52 loss tonight at Central Missouri inside the Multipurpose Building.

The Lions (0-3, 0-3 MIAA) got on the board in their first possession for the third-straight game with sophomore center Madi Stokes connecting on a layup with senior guard Megan Jackson picking up the assist. 

With 33 seconds remaining in the quarter, Turnbull got a steal that led to a Hunnicutt layup. Turnbull was not done for the quarter getting the rebound on the ensuing Jennies (1-0, 1-0 MIAA) possession before hitting a spinning jump shot in the paint to put the scoring after the conclusion of one 22-12.

Southern limited the Jennies to 30 percent from the field in the quarter and Turnbull closed the gap to eight after her layup with 3:52 remaining in the half made the score 21-29. The Lions attacked the paint finishing with 14 points and clamping down on defense limiting the Jennies to shooting 33 percent from the field and 36 from behind the three-point line.

Junior guard Amaya Johns got the Lions off to start the half after sinking both shots from the charity stripe to shrink the lead down to ten. Hunnicutt capped off a 5-0 run for the with a three from the corner with 2:53 remaining made the score 34-50.

The fourth quarter saw the Lions limit the Jennies to 18 percent from behind the three-point line. In the quarter, Southern shot 42 percent from the field. Turnbull had a six-point run all by herself that was capped off by a jumper with 5:17 left made the score 44-68.

Hunnicutt led the Lions with 14 points after going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Turnbull poured in 13 points while Stokes scored seven points collected nine rebounds and had a season-high four blocks.

For the Jennies, Nija Collier led the charge with 18 points grabbing nine boards nabbed four steals and blocked two shots. Olivia Nelson finished with 16 points while adding three assists and had two steals.

Next up for Southern is Lincoln (Mo.) Saturday to finish off the road trip. Tip-off is scheduled at 1 pm from Jason Gym in Jefferson City.