Jefferson City, Mo. – The Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team used a balance attack Thursday night as they handily defeated Lincoln University 78-38 inside Jason Gym.

Senior Sharese Jones led the balanced attack with 14 points while fellow senior Tami Morice and sophomore Kayla Kivinski added 11 each and junior Deb Holcomb and freshman Chelsey Henry added 10.

Lincoln was led by Hunter Yoakum with 10 points and Asia McCaskill with eight. Zuri Hill led the Blue Tigers in rebounding with nine and Lizzie Nessling added six to go with her team leading two assists.

Lincoln started the game off with a jumper from Hunter Yoakum before the Lions went on a 12-0 run started by a lay-up from Jones. Sophomore Dru Clark, celebrating her birthday, added five points during the run.  A 5-0 run by Lincoln narrowed the Lions' lead down to five at 12-7 before Holcomb drained a three from the top of the key. Morice's pull up jumper in the lane pushed the Southern lead back to 10 at 17-7 and the Lions never looked back. Kivinski added a three as six Lions scored in the opening frame with seven assists on eight buckets.

In the second quarter the Lions pushed their lead up to 16, 27-11, as freshman Desirea Buerge scored on a layup with 6:50 to play and a three from Holcomb at the 3:35 mark gave Southern a 33-15 lead. Morice drained a three with 1:46 to play to give Southern their largest lead of the half a 36-15.

For the half the Lions shot 47 percent from the field going 14-for-30 and 43 percent (6-for-14) from the three point range. Six Lions scored in the first half with Holcomb leading the way with eight, while Jones added seven. Buerge collected four steals in the paint, a career high, while Morice and Jones each dished out three assists.

The Lions held Lincoln to 29 percent shooting from the field in the first half allowing just three Blue Tiger offensive rebounds. Four Blue Tigers scored in the first half with McCaskill leading the way with five, Jasmine Guthrie, Hill, and Yoakum each added four.

The second half saw the Lions pick up right where they left off as Jones made a driving bucket and Holcomb connected on a jumper to give Southern a 21 point lead at 40-19. The jumper by Holcomb sparked another 12-0 run as Buerge made a layup, Jones added a layup and a three pointer, and Clark drained a three from the right wing. After a layup and made free throw from LU's Lizzie Nessling, Kivinski sank a pair of free throws followed by a layup to push the lead back to 32 at 54-22 with 1:47 left in the quarter. Morice ended the third quarter as she drained a three off the assist from Kivinski.

Sophomore Bri Shavers started the fourth quarter with a layup to give the Lions a 39 point lead, 63-23, before Henry made a three from the right wing to put the Lions up 42 and senior Sayna Azad hit a three from the top of the key for a 45 point lead, 70-25, with 5:42 to play. The Lions' lead grew to 47 on another three from Henry before Lincoln closed the game out on a 7-0 run for the 78-38 final.

The Lions shot 46 percent (30-for-66) from the field including 43 percent (13-for-30) from three point range. Southern was just one made three pointer away from tying the school record for most threes in a game which the Lions have done three times, the latest was at Truman State on January 25, 2003. Southern out rebounded the Blue Tigers 37-33 allowing just nine Lincoln offensive rebounds. Buerge led the way defensively as she collected five steals and pulled down four rebounds to go with her eight points.

Lincoln shot 30 percent from the field (14-for-46) and 19 percent from three point range (3-for-16).

The Lions will be back in action on Saturday as they travel to Lindenwood for a 1 p.m. contest with the Lady Lions.