(From Missouri Southern Sports)Duluth, Minn. - The 18th ranked Missouri Southern Lions beat rivals Pittsburg State 73-64 in the Central Region Semifinals on Saturday Mar. 11th in Romano Gymnasium to advance to the Central Region Championship game on Monday.
The Lions (29-6, 16-6 MIAA) were led by Lacy Stokes with 25 points going 9-for-11 from free throws, Kaitlin Hunnicutt had 12 points going 3-for-3 from deep and 3-for-4 from free throws, Layne Skiles had 11 points going 3-for-5 from three and had two blocks. Mia Topping lead the bench unit with 10 points going 4-for-6 from the field as Amaya Johns had a team-high eight rebounds.
Pittsburg State (23-8, 17-5) was led by Karenna Gerber who had a 25 points, 11 rebound double-double.
In the first quarter the Lions tied it up three times in the first three minutes before taking an 8-6 lead with 6:57 left after a Lacy Stokes layup. Pittsburg State responded with an 8-0 run to take a 14-8 lead and would hold onto the lead at the end of the quarter with an 18-12 advantage.
The Gorillas got an early eight point lead in the second quarter but an 7-0 run capped off by a Kryslyn Jones layup with 2:23 left in the half made it a one point game, 25-24. Jones would make the last basket of the half to make it a two point game, 28-26.
At the half Southern held the Gorillas to shooting 18.2 percent from three and 37.0 percent from the field, well below their season average coming into today of 34.0 percent from three and 44.8 percent from the field. Nine turnovers for Pittsburg State translated to nine Southern points in the half with the Lions also holding a 16-14 advantage on points in the paint.
Coming out of the half the Lions took a 31-30 lead with 9:11 left in the third quarter thanks to a Jones layup and-one. Pittsburg State responded with a 15-2 run for the largest lead of the game, 44-33 with 4:40 left following a pair of Gerber free throws.
In the fourth quarter the Lions came alive with an 10-0 run tying it up 57-57 with 6:19 left after back-to-back Hunnicutt threes. Hunnicutt would put the Lions ahead with 3:26 following a pair of free throws as a three by Skiles and an and-one layup by Lacy with 1:31 left made it 67-59.
The Gorillas would attempt a comeback with a made three pointer following the and-one by Lacy but the Lions roared out to a 6-2 run to end the game and the Gorillas season with a 73-64 victory.
For the second half the Lions shot 80.0 percent from three, 60.0 percent from the field and 81.3 percent from free throws. Defensively Southern limited the Gorillas to shooting 20.0 percent from three and 33.3 percent from the field.
Up next for the Lions will be a matchup against NSIC foe Minnesota - Duluth or Minnesota State - Mankato on Monday Mar. 13th from Romano Gymnasium with tip off set for 7:00pm.
This will be the third NCAA regional tournament championship appearance for the Lions in program history making it this far in the 1993 & 94 seasons.
The Missouri Southern women's basketball season is presented by People's Bank of Seneca, a proud supporter of Lion Athletics.
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