Mankato, Minn. - The Missouri Southern Lions Women's Basketball team fell behind early in the opening quarter and, for the third straight time this season, was unable to recover before falling 89-64 to Minnesota State-Mankato inside the Taylor Center Saturday evening.

Minnesota State (2-0) used a 7-0 run to open the game before sophomore Desire Buerge sank a pair of free throws at the 717 mark to get Missouri Southern (1-3) on the board. Almost a minute later, a three pointer from sophomore Shannon Mitchell pulled the Lions within two at 7-5. After a bucket from the Mavericks extended the lead back to four junior Jenson Maydew found junior Bri Shavers-McNeace rolling to the bucket for a layup to make it 9-7. The Mavericks used another 7-0 run to make it a 16-7 lead with 3:08 left in the opening quarter. After a bucket from Maydew, Minnesota State-Mankato closed the quarter on an 8-5 run to take a 24-14 lead into the second quarter.

The Mavericks pushed their lead up to 12 at the nine minute mark before a layup from junior Kayla Kivinski on the very next Southern possession. The Lions would get the lead down to eight, 30-22, on a bucket from Mitchell with 7:16 left before halftime. Another run by Minnesota State, this one 8-2, made it a 14 point ball game. Southern halted the run on a three from Kivinski, which was answered right back with a three pointer of their own to make it 39-25 with just over four minutes left in the half. A three from senior Deb Holcomb and a jumper from junior Jasmine Green cut the lead down to nine,  39-30, but that would be as close as the Lions got before the halftime as the Mavericks put on a 10-4 run to close out the first half and take a 49-34 lead into the locker room.

The second half was much of the same as Southern struggled to get the lead down to single digits while Minnesota State-Mankato managed to push their lead up to 18 in the third quarter, 60-42 at 2:22 mark, and 27, 89-62 with 41 seconds left to play in the game. The Lions shot 39.7 percent, 23-for-58, from the field for the game while Minnesota State-Mankato finished the game at 51.7 percent, 31-for-60. Buerge led Southern with 11 points with Mitchell adding nine and Holcomb eight. The Mavericks were led by Sammie Delzotto with 20 points and Claire Ziegler added 15. Mitchell led the Lions with six rebounds and Ziegler led MSU with 12, 10 defensive boards.

Southern will return home on Tuesday, November 22nd to face former MIAA foe Truman State. Tip off inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.