Maryville, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern women went into the locker room up two points today, but were outscored by 18 in the second half and fell 69-53 in the season finale at Northwest Missouri. 

Southern (15-12, 9-11 MIAA) secures the sixth seed in next week's MIAA Tournament and will face-off with Central Missouri in the 8:15 pm game on Thursday, March 4. 

The Lions were led in scoring by Jasmine Lovejoy's 16 points and seven rebounds as the junior went 6-8 from the field. Erin Rice scored ten points and Michelle Hedgecock added nine. 

Northwest (13-14, 19-11 MIAA) finishes the season as the fifth seed in the MIAA Tournament and will face off with Pittsburg State in the first round next Thursday. The Bearcats were led in scoring by Abby Henry's 18 points. 

The Lions trailed by six (14-8) after at the midway point of the first half, before a 10-4 run from Southern tied the game at 18 on a free throw from Hedgecock five minutes later. The Lions led 28-22 after a layup from Lovejoy with three minutes to go, but the Bearcats scored the final four points of the half. 

The second half was all Northwest Missouri. A three from Northwest's Shelly Martin gave the Bearcats their largest lead of the game at 21 (65-44) with six minutes to go. 

The Lions out rebounded Northwest 36-30 and out shot the Bearcats 45 percent to 37 percent, but Northwest made 11 threes on the night to roll to the win. 

Southern will now head to Kansas City to take part in the 2010 MIAA Post Season Tournament in Municipal Auditorium. The Lions will face off with Central Missouri at 8:15 pm on Thursday, March 4.