St. Charles, Mo. – In her final game in her hometown senior Sharese Jones drained a pair of free throws with 24 seconds left to seal the 71-68 win over the Lindenwood Lady Lions Saturday afternoon inside Robert F. Hyland Arena.

Jones finished the game with 18 points as she passed both Erin Rice and MSSU Athletics Hall of Famer Katie (Gariss) Marsh for eight place on the all-time scoring list with 1,231 career points.

The Lions (13-6, 7-6 MIAA) outshot Lindenwood (7-12, 3-10) 49 percent (19-for-39) to 43 percent (20-for-47) for the game and 54 percent (7-for-13) to 39 percent (5-for-13) from three point range.

Sophomore Dru Clark got the scoring started on the third possession of the game as she connected from three point range off the assist from freshman Desirea Buerge. A three point play from Jones gave the Lions a 6-0 lead before Lindenwood scored on a jumper from Jenny Rocha. The bucket by Rocha sparked a 7-1 run by the Lady Lions to tie the game at 7-7. Following a pair of buckets by each team a pair of free throws from senior Tami Morice gave Southern an 11-9 lead. Junior Deb Holcomb hit her first three pointer with 3:24 left in the quarter to increase the Lions lead to 14-9. Those two buckets sparked a 11-5 run to close the quarter and give Southern a 20-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Coming out of the quarter break Lindenwood's Vanessa Zailo, playing in her second game back since a broken nose, cut the Southern lead to four at 20-16 before sophomore Jenson Maydew answered back with a three pointer and a jumper to expand the lead to nine at 25-16 with 8:07 left in the half. Holcomb's second three of the game came at the 4:35 mark and gave Southern its first double digit lead at 30-19. Lindenwood closed the half on an 8-4 run as they cut the Southern lead down to seven, 36-29, at the break.

Southern shot 46 percent (11-for-24) from the field in the first half including 71 percent (5-for-7) from three point range. Holcomb was a perfect 3-for-3 from long distance and Maydew went 4-for-4 from the field. Lindenwood shot 43 percent (12-for-28) from the field and went 2-for-6 from three point range. LU's leading scorer, Kassidy Gengenbacher, score 10 of Lindenwood's 29 first half points.

On the opening possession of the second half, Jones drove the lane for a lay-up off the assist from fellow senior Kenya Wilson-Brown. After a three pointer from Charisse Williams cut Southern's lead to six at 38-32, Jones once again answered with a lay-up this time off the assist from Clark. A pair of free throws from Clark pushed the Lions' lead back to double digits at 42-32 with 6:33 to play in the third. From there Lindenwood went on a 13-2 run to take a one point lead, 45-44, with 1:29 to play in the third. Southern closed the third out on a 5-0 run on a three point play and a three from Holcomb for the 50-45 lead after three quarters of play.

Lindenwood opened the final quarter of play with a three pointer from Kylie Ferguson to cut the lead to two at 50-48 before Morice answered with a layup off the assist from a driving Jones. A free throw from Jones made it 53-48 Southern before Jenny Rocha drained a running jumper to cut the lead back down to three at 53-50. Another layup from Jones pushed the lead back to five and Gengenbacher hit only one of two free throws on the next possession to give Southern a 55-51 lead. Wilson-Brown was fouled driving to the bucket and fell hard to the ground forcing freshman Chelsey Henry to enter the game and she promptly sank both free throws to make it a 57-51 Southern lead with 6:48 to play. Five made free throws later, four from Lindenwood and one from Southern, had the Green & Gold lead down to three at 58-55 with 5:46 to play before Buerge drained a three from the right wing off the assist from Clark. From there the teams traded free throws down the stretch. With just 24 seconds left in her final game in her hometown Jones stepped to the line with Southern up two 68-66 and sank both free throws to give them a 70-66 lead. Those two charities moved her past the hall of famer Katie (Gariss) Marsh for eighth place on the MSSU All-Time leading scorer list. A pair of free throws from LU's Jenny Rocha cut the lead to two at 70-68 and Southern's Clark sank one of two with 14 seconds left before Rocha's desperation three from the top of the key sailed right as the buzzer sounded for the 71-68 win for Southern.

Holcomb and Jones led all scorers with 18 points while Clark added 10 and Maydew nine. Rocha led Lindenwood with 18 herself with Gengenbacher adding 16 before fouling out and Kylie Ferguson contributing ten.
Five Lions pulled down four rebounds each as Southern out rebounded Lindenwood 29-20. Clark led Southern with five assists, one shy of her career mark set against Central Oklahoma and Fort Hays State this season.

Southern will be back in action on Wednesday the 27^th as they travel to take on Northwest Missouri State. Tip off from Bearcat Arena is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.