Maryville, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Women Basketball Team (15-6, 9-5 MIAA) won an overtime thriller Wednesday night, 73-71, over Northwest Missouri (8-16, 4-11 MIAA) inside Bearcat Arena.

The game started much like the last meeting in Joplin as the Lions were out shot by Northwest Missouri 56.5 percent (13-23) to 38.5 percent (10-26). Southern trailed by as much as 12 in the first half, 29-17, before cutting the lead down to single digits, 37-28, at the break.

Both the Lions and Northwest Missouri each pulled down 14 rebounds but the Bearcats went to the charity stripe 10 more times than Southern. NWMSU finished the half 8-12 from the free throw line while the Lions were 2-2.

The Lions started the second half with a layup from Nic Hartzog that narrowed the Northwest Missouri lead to seven, 37-30, before both teams traded buckets over the next two minutes. The Bearcats went on a 4-0 run to open their largest lead of the night at 47-34 with 15:25 to play.

From there Southern would go on an 18-0 run over the next five minutes to take a five point lead, their largest of the game, at 52-47 with 10:19 left in regulation. During that span NWMSU went 0-5 from the field with five turnovers, while the Lions recorded three steals. In the 18-0 run Hartzog contributed eight points, as she started the run with a pair of free throws and was the last to score in the run on a layup. Lex Fitzpatrick added six points, four straight free throws, while Tami Morice and Jenson Maydew each added a pair.

The Lions led by five three different times in the final nine minutes but Northwest Missouri kept reeling them back in before taking a one point lead on a pair of free throws from Tanya Meyer with 3:02 to play. Fitzpatrick tied the game at 64-64 on a free throw of her own, 12th point of the night, with 57 seconds left as the Lions had three chances to finish the game in regulation but couldn't get the shots to fall.

Northwest Missouri got the scoring started in the extra frame as Shelby Mustain was fouled on a rebound and sent to the line for a pair of free throws. Maydew would give Southern their first lead in OT as she drained a three pointer and Sharese Jones connected for a layup from Maydew to give Southern a three point lead, 69-66, with 3:20 to play. Northwest tied the game for a sixth time at 69-69 on their next possession as Ariel Easton nailed a three. After trading a pair of free throws to tie the game at 71-71 with 1:31 to play Northwest got a rebound from a missed three pointer that went out of bounds off of Southern. Tanya Meyer was driving the lane when Fitzpatrick ripped the ball out of her hands and found a streaking Hartzog for the game winning layup with three seconds to go.

Hartzog finished with a game high 22 points. Joining her in double figures for the Lions were Fitzpatrick with 12, Jolee Sharp with 11, and Jones with 10. Hartzog and Fitzpatrick led the way for the Lions in rebounding as well as they finished with seven and six boards respectively. Fitzpatrick led the way for Southern with five assists as Hartzog, Sharp, and Camila Lacerda each dished out three.

Southern will be back in action this Saturday as they host Missouri Western in their annual #Pride4Pink day with the tip off scheduled for 1 pm at Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.