Kirksville, Mo. - Despite a balanced scoring effort and 38 bench points, the Missouri Southern women's basketball team fell this afternoon in their MIAA opener at Truman 72-62. 

The Lions (6-2, 0-1 MIAA) were led by junior center Shonte Clay with 10 points, while four players finished with 9 points apiece off the bench. Senior forward Erin Rice, junior guard Shatara Stone, sophomore guard Nicole Hartzog and junior forward Dominique Mosley all finished the afternoon with 9 points. Mosley and junior guard Jolee Sharp tied for a team-high 6 rebounds.

The Bulldogs (6-1, 1-1 MIAA) were led by 18 points apiece from guards Allie Norton and Becca McHenry, while forward Nicole Gloor finished with 11 points on the afternoon.

With the Bulldogs leading 13-11 through the first seven minutes of play, the Bulldogs went on a 8-2 run over the next five minutes to jump out to a 21-13 lead, but the Lions' responded with a 11-6 run over the next seven minutes, including five from Mosley, to close the lead to 27-24 with a minute remaining in the first half. Truman closed the half with four points to take a 31-24 lead into the halftime lead.

Coming out in the second half on fire, the Lions took their first lead of the game thanks to a 18-7 run out of the locker room to go up 42-38 with 13:37 remaining in the game. That run featured scoring from six Lions, including four each from Hartzog and junior guard Samantha Soyez.

The Bulldogs responded with a 10-3 run, including a pair of three-pointers, to retake the lead at 48-45. A layup by Mosley closed the lead back to within one, but another 12-3 run from the Bulldogs opened the lead back to 60-50. A pair of layups from Clay and freshman guard Sharese Jones closed the gap within 60-54, but that would be as close as the Lions would get the rest of the afternoon falling by a final of 72-62.

Despite a strong day shooting from the field going 27-of-52 (.519), the Lions matched a season-high in turnovers with 24 allowing for 26 Truman points. Truman finished the afternoon going 25-of-55 (.455) from the field, while hitting eight three-pointers.

The Lions return to action next Saturday when they wrap up the nonconference portion of their schedule traveling to Harding University to take on the Lady Bison at 2 p.m.