Women's Basketball 02.10.16

Lions Women Returns Home to Face Neb.-Kearney

Women's Basketball 02.10.16

Lions Women Returns Home to Face Neb.-Kearney

Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team returns home this Thursday evening as they host the Lopers of the University of Nebraska at Kearney for a 5:30 p.m. tip off on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Last Time Out for the Lions (15-8, 9-8 MIAA)
Topeka, Kan. - The Missouri Southern Women's basketball team (15-8, 9-8 MIAA) used a 15-2 run to open the fourth quarter to rally past Washburn (12-10, 8-8 MIAA) 73-67 Saturday evening inside Lee Arena.
The first quarter went back and forth for the first three minutes before junior Deb Holcomb hit a three to put the Lions up five at 11-6 with 6:45 left in the period. Washburn answered right back with a three of their own from Haley Pfau and the teams again traded buckets until a layup from Erika Lane gave the Ichabods a 16-15 lead with just over a minute left. A pair of free throws from WU's Erin Dohnalek put the Ichabods up 18-15 headed into the quarter break.
Washburn's lead expanded to six on another three from Pfau a minute into the second quarter before sophomores Dru Clark hit a layup and Kayla Kivinski sank a free throw to pull the Lions back within three at 21-18 with 7:13 left until halftime. A jumper from senior Sharese Jones followed by a three pointer from sophomore Jenson Maydew gave the game its second tie at 23-23 with 4:35 left before Dohnalek re-gained the lead for Washburn with a three of her own. Washburn went up by four, 31-27, on a free throw from Cindy Demosthene but Kivinski's lay-up with just under a minute left cut the Lions' deficit to two heading into the locker room.
Both teams shot 47 percent from the field during the first half with Southern going 11-for-23 and Washburn 10-for-21. Washburn had the edge in the three point range going 6-for-10 to the Lions' 4-for-9. The Ichabods also out rebounded Southern 13-11 in the first half. Holcomb led the Lions with eight points and four rebounds in the first half, while Jones added seven points. Washburn was led by Lane with eight points and Pfau with six.
The second half started with a Holcomb jumper to tie the game at 31-31 but back-to-back lay-ups from Washburn's Jayna Smith and Alyxis Bowens gave the Ichabods another four point lead before Maydew drained her second three of the night to cut the lead down to one, 35-34, at the 7:28 mark. Another layup from Bowens made it 37-34 before Holcomb tied the game for a fourth time at 37-37 with a three of her own with 6:20 to play. Washburn would lead by five three more times in the third before Jones got in on the long distance party to make it 50-48 Washburn with 1:46 left in the third. Following an Ichabod layup Clark nailed a three to get the Lions with one, 52-51, with 55 seconds left in the quarter. A layup from Bowens made it 54-51 before a technical foul was called on the Lions bench with eight seconds left in the quarter. WU's Lane would hit only one of the two freebies as Washburn led 55-51 heading into the final quarter.
The technical seemed to spark the Lions offense as they used a 16-2 run to start the fourth to take the lead for good at 66-57 on a layup from Jones with 4:35 to play. Washburn cut the lead to four at 67-63 on a three pointer from Lane with 2:46 left to play, but Southern answered right back with a layup of their own from sophomore Bri Shavers to push the lead back to six. Jones and senior Tami Morice sank a pair of free throws each in the game's final minute to seal the 73-67 road win for Southern.
Washburn out shot the Lions 51 percent (25-for-49) to 50 percent (23-for-46) on the night while Southern turned the rebounding tally around and finished with a plus five, 27-22. Both teams hit 10 three points but the difference in the game was at the charity stripe. Washburn got to the line just 11 times, hitting seven, while the Lions stepped to the line 20 times draining 17. Jones led the way for Southern with 24 points going 7-for-12 from the field (2-2 from three point range) and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Holcomb added 23 points going 8-for-15 from the field including 5-for-8 from downtown and 2-2 from the free throw line. Both Jones and Holcomb led Southern on the glass with seven rebounds each. Senior Kenya Wilson-Brown added two assists to her team leading 93 to go along with four steals. Washburn was led by Lane with 19 points and Bowens chipped in 12. Demosthene led the Ichabods on the boards with seven.

The Last Time Out for the Lopers (12-10, 8-8 MIAA)
Kearney, Neb. – Guards McKenzie Brown and Alexa Hogberg combined to score 30 points and senior guard Laramey Becker was close to a double double to help Nebraska-Kearney defeat Central Missouri, 78-61, Saturday afternoon on the Buckle Court at the Health & Sports Center.
The Lopers (12-10, 8-8) are now in a seventh-place tie with Washburn in the league standings. At the end of the year, teams five through eight in the standings host a first round MIAA Tournament game on Monday, February 29th.
Leading nearly the entire way, UNK was ahead 62-41 with 1:51 left in the third quarter. Back in December, the Jennies (8-13, 7-9) rallied from a double digit deficit to edge the Lopers, 64-62.
UCM closed the quarter on a 6-0 run and then tallied the first six points of the fourth. It was still a nine point game when junior reserve forward Kelsey Fitzgerald (Yankton, S.D.) scored off a pass from Brown (G.I. Northwest).
That made it 68-57 and UNK scored 10 of the final 14 points to win going away.
"The start of the third quarter was okay and then, in the last four or five minutes, they started to attack the basket," said UNK head coach Carrie Hofstetter. "When you're up like that, you tend to play it safe while they play a bit reckless. They were putting their head down, trying to get to the rim, draw fouls and stop the clock."
Hogberg (Chandler, Ariz.) had the very hot hand early, scoring UNK's first 10 points. The Lopers led 17-15 after the first 10 minutes and then erupted for 27 point s in the second quarter. UCM, meanwhile, was held to nine in the second.
"Defensively I thought we were really good in the second quarter. Offensively, when we move the ball and we screen bodies and force the defense to rotate and cover up, we can definitely score some points," said Hofstetter.
Reaching double digits for the third time in the last four games, Hogberg was 6 of 11 from the field (3 of 5 threes) to tally 15. She also had six assists to two turnovers in 31 minutes from her point guard spot.
Brown also sunk three triples to score 15 while adding five defensive caroms, three assists and two steals. Next, Becker had nine points, nine rebounds (three offensive) and three assists.
Finally, the Loper bench tallied 27 points with Fitzgerald and Holdrege freshman guard Jenna Gillespie scoring eight apiece. As a team, UNK shot over 50% (52.6) for the third time this season.
Former UNL volleyball player Shelby Winkelmann paced UCM with 22 points, five boards, three assists and three steals.

The Series
The Lions lead the series with the former CSIC opponent 17-14. The Lions hold a 9-6 advantage when playing in Joplin and are 1-1 when playing UNK in The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center, however the series is even when in Kearney, Neb. at 8-8. Since the joining of the NCAA D2 ranks Southern holds a 3-2 advantage over UNK. Southern has won five of the last seven against the Lopers with two of those wins coming at UNK's Health & Sports Center/Buckle Court. The longest winning streak by either team is held by the Lions as they won seven games from Jan. 29, 1983 through Feb. 1, 1986. UNK's longest winning streak was four games (twice) Jan. 29, 1977 thru Feb. 4, 1978 and Jan. 30, 1981 thru Feb. 19, 1982.

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 244-166 record, including a 54-23 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.

Nebraska-Kearney
Carrie Hofstetter was named the seventh head women's basketball coach in Nebraska-Kearney history on March 31st, 2015. She is a native of Edgar, Neb., and graduate of Sandy Creek High School and Hastings College. Whether as a player, assistant coach or head coach, Hofstetter has been a part of not only winning programs but ones that contended for championships on an annual basis. She has a career coaching record of 68-31 in leading the Broncos program the past three seasons. Hastings won 25 and 28 games, respectively, the past two years, reaching the NAIA Division II Tournament national quarterfinals in 2014 and the semifinals this season.

Last Time vs. UNK
Kearney, Neb. - The Missouri Southern Women couldn't over come a slow start as they fell 65-50 to the University of Nebraska-Kearney Lopers Saturday night on Buckle Court inside the Health & Sports Center.
After shooing just 11 percent in the second half against Washburn the Lions (9-4, 3-4 MIAA) suffered through a cold first half at UNK (6-6, 2-5 MIAA) as they managed to shoot 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the field including a 1-for-9 performance from three point range.The first quarter went back and forth as Southern tied the Lopers three times. Senior Sharese Jones tied the game at 3-3 with 8:55 to go in the first on a free throw, junior Deb Holcomb tied it at 10-10 with 4:11 to play on a jumper, and sophomore Bri Shavers tied the game at 12-12 on a post move with 2:25 to play in the quarter. UNK closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to take a 16-12 lead into the quarter break.
In the second quarter the Lopers extended their lead to 23-12 following a pair of free throws by Kennedy Sander and a three pointer and lay-up from Laramey Becker. Southern chipped away with a three pointer and a fast break jumper from freshman Chelsey Henry to cut the lead to five at 25-20 with 1:56 until intermission. UNK again answered with a 6-0 run to push their lead to 31-20 with lay-ups from Courtney Aitken and Bri Starks and a jumper from Becker.
The third quarter started with a three pointer from Jones and a lay-up by Shavers from senior Kenya Wilson-Brown to cut the Loper lead to six, 31-25. However, UNK answered with their own 8-0 run and pushed their lead to 16 at 41-25 with 6:03 left in the quarter. A Loper jumper from Starks with 2:54 to play gave UNK their largest lead of the game at 48-30 before the Lions would cut it down to 14 off a pair of free throws by Jones and a jumper from sophomore Dru Clark. The Lopers and Southern traded buckets to end the third with freshman Desirea Buerge scoring the lone Lions goal with just over 30 seconds left in the quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the Lions get as close at 11 three times on a three pointer from Holcomb at the 8:24 mark, a jumper by Shavers with 5:10 to play, and a free throw from sophomore Jenson Maydew with 1:30 left. UNK dominated the fourth out scoring the Lions in the paint 10-6 and 7-3 on second chance points.
Jones led the Lions with 15 points and seven rebounds. Wilson-Brown pulled down six boards to go with her five assists and three points while playing all 40 minutes. UNK was led by Becker with 21 points and 10 rebounds and McKenzie Brown added 11.

Probable Starters
Missouri Southern (15-8, 9-8 MIAA)
11 Kenya Wilson-Brown G 5-5 Sr. (Arlington, Texas)
14 Tami Morice G 5-11 Sr. (Naperville, Ill.)
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.)

Nebraska-Kearney (12-10, 8-8 MIAA)
1 Bri Starks G/F 5-11 Sr. (Hutchinson, Kan.)
10 McKenzie Brown G 5-10 So. (Grand Island, Neb.)
12 Alexa Hogberg G 5-5 Jr. (Chandler, Ariz.)
15 Laramey Becker G 5-8 Sr. (Trenton, Neb.)
25 Imani Kyser F 6-0 So. (Madison, Ala.)

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