Women's Basketball 01.29.16

Lions Women Set to Take on No. 6 Missouri Western on Pink Day

Women's Basketball 01.29.16

Lions Women Set to Take on No. 6 Missouri Western on Pink Day

Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Women return home after a four game road swing to face sixth ranked Missouri Western Saturday afternoon on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. Tip off for the annual pink game is scheduled for 1 p.m.

The Last Time Out for the Lions (14-6, 8-6 MIAA)
Maryville, Mo. – The Missouri Southern Women's basketball team used two 14-0 runs to defeat Northwest Missouri State 57-47 Wednesday night inside Bearcat Arena.
Northwest Missouri got the scoring started as Tember Schechinger converted a transition opportunity with a lay-up off a Lions miss for the early 2-0 lead. Southern answered back with a pair of free throws from junior Deb Holcomb tied the game at 2-2 just under two minutes into the game. A lay-up from Tanya Meyer gave the Bearcats a 4-2 lead before senior Sharese Jones sank a pair of charities for a 4-4 tie. Both teams went cold over the next four minutes until Schechinger scored on a driving lay-up at the 3:30 mark to give Northwest Missouri a 6-4 lead. Following a media time out with 2:35 to go in the quarter freshman Chelsey Henry gave the Lions their first lead a 7-6 before Holcomb converted a three point play to go up 10-6. Northwest Missouri clawed back into the game with a 4-0 run to end the quarter and sent the game into the quarter break tied at 10-10.
Coming out of the quarter break the Bearcats picked up where they left off extending their run from 4-0 to 10-0 and taking a 16-10 lead and following a pair of free throws from Shelby Mustain Northwest Missouri held its largest lead at 21-12. With four minutes left in the half Southern went to work on the offensive end. Sophomore Dru Clark hit a streaking Jones for a lay-up to cut the lead to seven then sophomore Jenson Maydew took matters into her own hands draining back-to-back three pointers and a jumper off the right wing from senior Tami Morice to give Southern a 22-21 lead headed into the locker room.
Both teams shot under 30 percent for the half with Northwest going 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) and 2-for-10 from three point range. The Lions shot 26.1 percent (6-for-23) from the field and were 3-for-9 from three point range. However, the Lions went a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line while Northwest Missouri went 3-for-4. The Bearcats out rebounded Southern 24-14 in the first half while the Lions forced seven Northwest Missouri turnovers to five for the Lions. Maydew led the Lions with eight points and Holcomb added seven while Clark pulled down a team high five rebounds. Northwest Missouri was led by Schechinger with seven points and nine rebounds.
The Lions started the third quarter like they ended the first half, perfect from the free throw line, as freshman Desirea Buerge sank a pair just fifteen seconds into the quarter. Senior Kenya Wilson-Browngot into the scoring column as she banked home a 15 foot jump shot after Northwest Missouri gave her all kinds of space. Following a 15 foot jumper from Northwest Missouri's Jasmin Howe, Wilson-Brown drove to the bucket for another lay-up for a 28-23 lead with just over seven and a half minutes to play in the third. After trading a pair of free throws Jones pulled down an offensive rebound off a Wilson-Brown miss and the put back put the Lions up 32-25 with 6:42 to play. After a jumper from Taylor Shull cut the Missouri Southern lead down to four, Jones took advantage of a Northwest Missouri defender falling as she converted a wide open lay-up with 3:18 left to play in the third for a 35-29 lead. Northwest Missouri's Shelby Mustain cut the Lions' lead down to four on a lay-up with 1:27 left before Southern's Clark drained a three from the left wing with 33 seconds left to send the Lions into the quarter break with a 38-31 lead.
Jasmin Howe started the fourth quarter with a three to cut the Missouri Southern lead down to four at 38-34 before Jones connected with Maydew for a wide open lay-up to put the Lions back up six at 40-34 just 47 seconds into the final quarter. A wide open lay-up from Wilson-Brown and a step through lay-up from Holcomb gave the Lions their largest lead at the time 44-34 with just over 6:30 to play. A pair of free throws from Jones pushed the lead to 12, 46-34 before getting fouled on a wide open lay-up and a technical foul called on Northwest Missouri's Macy Williams with 5:02 to play. Jones sank all four free throws as the Lions extended their lead to 16, 50-34. Following three empty trips up and down the court Jones grabbed her own miss and was fouled on the put back to send her to the line once again. After sinking the first free throw, her 18th point on the night, Jones passes Suzanne Sutton (1983-86) for seventh place on Missouri Southern Women's Basketball scoring list. Northwest Missouri cut the lead down to 14 after a pair of free throws from Tanya Meyer at 52-38 before Wilson-Brown hit a running lay-up from the right block to put the lead back at 16 with 2:18 to play. Northwest Missouri battled back with a 7-0 run to cut the lead down to nine at 56-47 before a free throw from Wilson-Brown with 20 seconds left sealed the 57-47 win for the Lions.
For the game the Lions shot 32.6 percent (15-for-46) from the field including 4-for-15 from three point range while going 23-for-25 (92 percent) from the charity stripe. Northwest Missouri shot 32.7 percent from the floor (16-for-49) and went 4-for-18 from three point range while shooting just 12 free throws on the night. Meyer led Northwest Missouri with 14 points and Howe added 12 while Schechinger added nine points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Jones led the Lions with 19 points, with 13 of her points coming at the free throw line, and pulled down a team high seven rebounds while Maydew added 10 points and three rebounds.

The Last Time Out for #6 Missouri Western (18-2, 12-2 MIAA)
PITTSBURG, Kan. – After winning its first 18 games of the season, the 6^th-ranked Griffon Women's basketball team has lost two in a row after dropping a heartbreaker at Pittsburg State, 83-80 on Wednesday.
There were four ties in the final five minutes of the game with each team taking the lead twice after the ties. On the night, the score was tied 12 times with nine lead changes.
Pittsburg State built an eight-point lead with 9:32 left in the game but Missouri Western recaptured the lead with 4:42 to go on two free throws from LaQuinta Jefferson. The senior guard scored 11 points in the Griffons' 13-3 run to regain the lead. Kylie Gafford tied the game for Pittsburg State at 74 with 4:19 left then gave the Gorillas the lead back with two free throws. Miliakere Koyamainavure tied the game with 3:01 left at 76 and Jefferson tied it again with 2:30 remaining and after a Mikaela Burgess three gave Pitt State the lead back, Jefferson made three of four free throw attempts after being fouled and a technical foul was called on Pittsburg State. Jefferson had a chance to tie the game at 81 with 36 seconds left but made one of two to leave the team down one at 81-80. Pittsburg State would make two more free throws with three seconds left. Sarafina Handy had a chance to tie the game at the end, launching a three at the buzzer that went long.
The stat sheet showed a close contest with the Griffons shooting 49.2 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from three-point range and 72.7 percent at the free throw line. Missouri Western also won the battle on the glass, finishing with 37 rebounds to the Gorillas' 30. The difference seemed to come at the free throw line where Pittsburg State shot 82.8 percent, making eight more free throws than the Griffons on seven more attempts. Missouri Western went 16-22 from the charity stripe, Jefferson accounted for 13 of the makes and 18 of the attempts. Jefferson, Handy and Julia Torres were the only Griffons to attempt free throws.
Jefferson finished with a game-high 29 points, five rebounds and a team-high four assists. Handy added 16 points, 12 in the first half. Miliakere Koyamainavure finished with 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The loss dropped Missouri Western to 18-2 on the season, 12-2 in MIAA play. The Griffons stay on the road this week with a trip to Missouri Southern on Saturday.

The Series
This is the 86th meeting between the sister schools, with Missouri Western holding a 50-32 advantage in the series. Three MWSU wins in the 05-06 and 06-07 seasons were vacated by the NCAA. The longest winning streak for Missouri Western is 12 games from Jan. 13, 1997 thru Feb. 27, 2002 and Southern's longest winning streak was eight games, Feb. 6, 2010 thru Feb. 15, 2014.Southern holds a 23-17 advantage over their sister school in Joplin and have won the last seven inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. However, the Lions have struggled at MWSU winning only eight times since the series started in 1977. The Lions are 9-2 against Missouri Western in the current decade, that is the best start of any decade in series history.

Last Time vs. Missouri Western
St. Joseph, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern women's basketball team came oh, so close to upsetting No. 17 Missouri Western tonight, but the Lions fell just short in the effort, losing 63-61 inside the MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph.
The Lions (8-2, 2-2 MIAA) were led in scoring by the double-double effort from Sharese Jones as she scored 24 and pulled down ten rebounds. She went 8-12 from the field and 3-3 from long range, while shooting 5-5 from the free throw line. Desirea Buerge scored 11 points on 3-5 from long range, while Kenya Wilson-Brown and Chelsey Henry scored eight points each.
Western (9-0, 4-0 MIAA)had two score in double-figures, led by 24 points from LaQuinta Jefferson.
The Griffons opened up a 6-0 lead to start the game, but a three from Deb Holcomb and a bucket from Jones got the Lions to within one (6-5) with 5:43 left in the first quarter. Western went on a 5-0 run, before a 6-0 run from the Lions tied the game at 11 after one.
A free throw from Bri Shavers gave Southern a 12-11 lead early in the second quarter and the two teams traded buckets for the next three minutes, before a 7-0 run from Southern put the Lions up 22-16 after a pair of freebies from Wilson-Brown with 5:23 to go in the quarter. The game was tied with a minute to go after a three from Buerge, but a pair of free throws from the Griffons gave Western a 30-28 lead at the break.
Southern led by four (37-33) with 4:50 to go in the third quarter after a free throw from Jones. Western, came back and led by four with 2:53 to go, but a three from Jones the next trip down cut the Western lead to one (43-42) with 2:36 to go in the quarter. Neither team would score the rest of the third.
The Griffonsopened up the fourth quarter on fire, and led by eight (52-44) after a pair of free throws from Jefferson. Western led by nine (57-48) with 4:58 to go, but that's when the Lions started their come back. A three pointer from Jones with 3:17 to go got Southern within four (57-53) and a pair of free throws from Henry made the score 61-57 with 48 seconds left. Back-to-back layups from Wilson-Brown and Jones, the last coming with three seconds left made the score 62-61, but the Griffons would make one more free throw to seal the win.
Southern shot 36 percent from the field and 73 percent from the free throw line in the game.

The Coaches
Missouri Southern
Ronda Hubbard is in her 15th year on the staff at Missouri Southern and her third year at the helm. During her 15 years with the Lions, she has helped the team to a 243-164 record, including a 53-21 record in her first two plus seasons at the helm of the Lions program. Last season's 20 wins was the first time the women's team had won 20 games since the 1995-96 season.

#6 Missouri Western
Rob Edmisson begins his fourth season as the women's basketball coach. In 2014-15, Edmisson helped the Griffons to an overall record of 15-12 and 9-10 MIAA record. The Griffons finished 7th in the MIAA and lost in the second round of the MIAA tournament to Emporia State.

Probable Starters
Missouri Southern (14-6, 8-6 MIAA)
1 Dru Clark G 5-7 So. (Collinsville, Okla.)
11 Kenya Wilson-Brown G 5-5 Sr. (Arlington, Texas)
21 Desirea Buerge F 6-0 Fr. (Webb City, Mo.)
24 Deb Holcomb G 5-7 Jr. (Dallas, Texas)
44 Sharese Jones G 5-8 Sr. (St. Charles, Mo.)

#6 Missouri Western (18-2, 12-2 MIAA)
3 LaQuinta Jefferson G 6-0 Sr. (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
5 Sarafina Handy G 5-9 Sr. (Flossmoor, Ill.)
22 Chelsea Dewey G 5-8 Jr. (Gower, Mo.)
23 Mhykeah Baez F 6-1 Sr. (San Antonio, Texas)
30 Miliakere Koyamainavure F 5-9 Sr. (Suva, Fiji)

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