Senior Sharese Jones scored 22 points as she led the Missouri Southern Lions Women's Basketball team to a 58-49 victory over Truman State Saturday afternoon inside Pershing Arena.
Truman (2-2) opened the game with a 10-2 run for their largest lead of the afternoon just under five minutes into the contest. Southern (4-0) slowly chipped away over the next three minutes as freshman Chelsey Henry drained a jumper, junior Deb Holcomb and Jones sank a lay-ups, and sophomoreJenson Maydew tied the game at 10-10 with a lay-up of her own. Truman closed the first quarter on a 4-2 run with a pair of free throws from Rachel Steinhoff providing the 14-12 TSU lead headed into the break.
Senior Kenya Wilson-Brown tied the game for the fourth and final time of the day with a jumper just over 30 seconds into the second quarter. Following a lay-up and a pair of free throws from Truman's Michalina Tomczak, Lions' sophomoreDru Clark hit a pair of charities of her own to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 18-16 with six minutes until halftime. Another free throw from Clark four minutes and a jumper from Holcomb 11 seconds after the free throw cut the lead down to one, 20-19, with just under two minutes left in the half. Holcomb gave Southern its first lead of the day at 21-20 with 39 seconds left.
Both Holcomb and Jones scored six a piece for Southern while Maydew pulled down a team-high five rebounds. As a team the Lions shot just 32.1 percent (9-for-28) from the floor and went 0-for-4 from three point range. For Truman State, Tomczak led the way with eight points and Ashley Hartwig grabbed five rebounds. The Bulldogs shot 8-for-27 from the floor (29.6 percent) in the first half and went 0-for-7 from downtown.
Jones got the scoring started in the third quarter when she drove the lane got the bucket and the fould for a three point play and extended Southern's lead to four, 24-20. From there Southern did not trail again as Truman closed the gap to one point, 25-24, with 7:10 left in the quarter before Holcomb nailed a jumper to push the Lions back up by three. Holcomb and Jones went back-to-back from three point range to force a Truman State time out with under four minutes left in the quarter. Truman closed the quarter on a 4-1 run to pull within five, 37-32. The lone Southern point in that run came from sophomore Jordan Dinyer at the free throw line.
Holcomb started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run of her own with a lay-up, a jumper, and a three pointer to give Southern their biggest lead of the afternoon at 44-32. Truman went on their own 8-2 run to close the Lions lead down to six, 48-42, with just over two mintues left. With just over a minute to play Truman set Southern to free throw line on their last five possessions of the game. The Lions went 8-for-10 in that span to seal the 58-49 win over the Bulldogs.
The win by Southern snapped two four game winning streaks in the series for Truman State. The Bulldogs had won the last four both overall, two in Joplin and two in Kirksville, and the last four in Pershing Arena.
For the game Jones led all scorers with 22 and Holcomb added 20 for the Lions. Maydew grabbed a game-high seven rebounds with Wilson-Brown dishing out three assists and Holcomb swiping five steals. Southern shot 35.2 percent (19-for-54) from the field and went 3-for-12 from three point range. Truman was led by Tomczak with 14 points and Steinhoff with 13. Cassidy Clark led the Bulldogs in rebounding with seven. TSU shot 34.7 percent (17-for-49) from the floor and went 0-for-11 from the three point line.
The Lions will play host to NAIA member Avila University on Tuesday, November 24th. Tip off from Robert Corn Court/The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is slated for 5:30 p.m.
