Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Lions look to bounce back as they head to Bolivar to take on the Southwest Baptist University Bearcats Thursday night at the Meyer Sports Center at 5:30 p.m.

Last Time Out for the Lions (16-9, 10-9 MIAA)
Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Lions rally in the second half came just short as fifth ranked Fort Hays State squeaked by with a 68-62 win Saturday afternoon inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Lions jumped out first in a first quarter that saw five of the six ties in the game, when junior Deb Holcomb scored on a jumper in the paint on the opening possession. Tie number one came on the first Fort Hays State (21-3, 15-3 MIAA) possession with a layup from Jill Faxon. Tie number two came just a minute later when FHSU's Chelsea Mason drove to the bucked following a Lions' layup from freshman Desirea Buerge. The Tigers took the lead on a bucket from Beth Bohuslavsky but Southern regained the lead at 7-6 on the next possession with a three pointer from sophomore Jenson Maydew. A pair of free throws from Fort Hays' Paige Lunsford tied and then gave the Tigers the lead at 8-7. From there the two teams traded buckets until back-to-back lay-ups from Southern's Maydew and sophomore Dru Clark made it 13-10 Lions. A lay-up from FHSU's Taylor Chandler and free throw from Bohuslavsky tied it back at 13-13 before Southern would have a little 5-0 run on a three point play from senior Sharese Jones and a lay-up from Holcomb. Fort Hays State ended the first quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 22-18 lead into the quarter break.
Coming out in the second quarter the Tigers pushed their lead up to nine at 27-18 before a three pointer from Clark cut it to six at 27-21 with just under seven minutes to play. A 4-0 run pushed the FHSU lead up to 10, 31-21, before a pair of free throws from Clark and a lay-up from Fort Hays State's Mason made it 33-23 with four minutes left in the half. Buerge answered with a three off the assist from Clark but the Tigers' Faxon answered right back with a three of her own to make it 36-26. Southern closed the half on a 6-2 run with a pair of free throws from Clark and Holcomb and a lay-up from sophomore Kayla Kivinski.
For the half the Lions shot 40.7 percent (11-for-27) from the field, going 3-for-9 from three point range, and were a perfect 7-for-7 at the free throw line. Clark led the Lions with nine points off the bench while Holcomb added eight and both Maydew and Buerge chipping in five each. FHSU shot 48.1 percent (13-for-27) from the field with a 3-of-6 performance from downtown and they were 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Mason led the Tigers with 10 points and Bohuslavsky added seven.
A quick 4-0 run by Fort Hays State opened the third period before the Lions would start to claw back. A lay-up from senior Kenya Wilson-Brown sparked an 12-2 run to pull Southern even at 44 all following a pair of free throws by Wilson-Brown with 5:46 left in the quarter. That would be the closest the Lions got in the third as FHSU answered with an 8-0 run to go up 52-44 with just over a minute left in the third. Holcomb scored on the next Southern possession and following a turnover by the Tigers' Mason, Kivinski's three at the buzzer just missed to the right of the iron.
The fourth quarter started with an offensive foul called on Holcomb which the Tigers turned into a lay-up by Taylor Chandler to go back up by eight points, 54-46. Holcomb answered right back with a jumper inside the lane and a pair of free throws from Jones made it 54-50 with just over eight minutes left in the game. Chandler got fouled going to the hoop over 90 seconds later and hit just one of two freebies to give the Lions an opening. Jones immediately came down and hit a three to pull the Lions within two at 55-53 with 6:21 to play. Another trip to the free throw line for FHSU garnered just 1-for-2 this time from Bohuslavsky and a pair of freebies from Nikola Kacperska made it 58-53 with 5:45 to play. A three pointer from Maydew off the assist from Clark cut it down to two before FHSU's Mason answered right back as the teams headed into the final media time out with FHSU leading 60-56. Coming out of the media Holcomb drove to the bucket for a little 10 foot jump shot to make it 60-58 and that was the closest the Lions would get as Fort Hays finished the game on a 8-4 run for the 68-62 win.
Southern finished the game shooting 21-for-57 (36.8 percent) from the field and was a perfect 13-for-13 from the free throw line. Fort Hays State went 23-for-50 (46 percent) from the field and 19-for-24 from the free throw line. The Lions were led by Holcomb with 19, and Clark with 14. Both Holcomb & Clark also led Southern in rebounding with seven and six, respectively. The Tigers were led by Mason with 16 and Kacperska with 15.

Last Time Out for the Bearcats (13-11, 8-10 MIAA)
Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team picked up a huge MIAA victory over Central Missouri on Saturday afternoon, taking down the Jennies 68-65. With the victory the Bearcats improve to 13-11 (8-10 MIAA) on the season.
Central Missouri came out to start the game with a 7-0 run over the first two minutes of the game, but a layup from Mackenzie Skupa and an old-fashioned three-point play from Caylee Richardson pulled SBU within two (7-5) with 7:27 left in the first quarter. After exchanging buckets, back-to-back layups from Dilonna Johnson and Ashlee Pitts gave SBU their first lead of the game at 13-12 with 3:03 left in the quarter. UCM would respond with a 5-0 run, but a three at the buzzer from Johnson fell as SBU trailed 19-18 after the first quarter of action.
UCM held a small lead for the first three and half minutes of the second quarter, but a three from Pitts with 6:24 left in the half gave SBU a 27-26 lead. The Jennies answered back to tie the game at 28-28, but jumpers from Natalie O'Keefe and Richardson pushed the SBU lead back to four (32-28) with 3:30 remaining in the half. Both teams exchanged free throws for the remainder of the half as SBU went into the break with a 33-31 lead.
The Bearcats came out of the half with a layup from Alex Botkin to push their lead back to four, but an 8-0 UCM run put the Bearcats down 39-35 with 5:45 left in the third quarter. SBU came back with a 7-0 run, using a three from Megan Rosenbohm and jumpers from Sarah Magana and Richardson to take a 42-39 lead. The teams exchanged baskets, but a three from Rosenbohm pushed the SBU lead to 49-43 with 1:59 left in the quarter. The Jennies ended the quarter on a 5-0 run as SBU headed into the fourth with a 49-48 lead.
SBU came right out and responded with an 8-0 run, fueled by six points from Richardson, to take a 57-48 with 6:55 left in the game. A pair of free throws from Morgan Lucy extended the Bearcat lead to a game high 10 (60-50) with 6:13 remaining, but UCM used a 6-0 run to stay in the contest. The Bearcats continued to hold a small lead before UCM cut the SBU lead to two (64-62) with 1:58 remaining. A Richardson layup pushed the lead back to four (66-62), but three straight UCM free throws cut the Bearcat lead to one (66-65) with 45 seconds remaining. With SBU still holding a one point lead, O'Keefe connected one two big free throws, and a three from UCM at the buzzer was too strong as SBU claimed the 68-65 victory.
Caylee Richarson led the way for SBU with a double-double, scoring a game high 22 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Rosenbohm was also in double-figures, giving SBU 13 points on 5-7 shooting from the field. As a team SBU shot 46.4% from the field, 21.1% from beyond the arc, and 80.0% from the free throw line.

The Series
This is the 65th meeting between the Lions and SBU, the third longest running series behind Missouri Western (87) and Pittsburg State (86). The Lions lead the series against Southwest Baptist, 43-21. Southern took the first game this season 74-61 at home. The Lions lead the overall series with the Bearcats  in Joplin 28-5, but Southwest Baptist holds a slight lead in Bolivar, Mo. 16-15. Southern has won four straight against the Bearcats and five of the last six. The Lions longest winning streak was 14 games to start the series, from Jan. 21, 1976 thru Feb. 3, 1989.  The longest winning streak for Southwest Baptist was six, from Jan. 7, 1998 thru Feb. 9, 2000.

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 245-167 record, including a 55-24 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.

Southwest Baptist
Kelsey Keizer will begin her second year (2015-16) as the Head Coach of the Women's Basketball program after spending the previous three years as the top assistant coach. Kelsey holds a career coaching record of 9-18 (4-15 MIAA). In her first season on the bench, Kelsey led the Bearcats to a 9-18 (4-15 MIAA) record while also helping Junior Guard, Dilonna Johnson, to a spot on MIAA All-Conference Honorable Mention team.  Her team also placed 11 players on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll during the 2014-15 season.  As the SBU Assistant Coach from 2011-2014, Kelsey helped coach the team to a final four finish in the MIAA Conference tournament in 2013 and placed 7 players to All-Conference Honors over three years.  Keizer also helped lead the team to a Top 25 (13th place) finish in the WBCA Academic Honor Roll Rankings with a team GPA of 3.584.

Last Time vs. SBU
Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern women's basketball program led for more than 35 minutes and the Lions took out the visiting Bearcats of Southwest Baptist, 74-61 tonight on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
 Southern (10-5, 4-5 MIAA) was led by Sharese Jones as she had her fourth double-double of the season with a season-high 27 points and ten rebounds. Deb Holcomb had a career-high 26 points, going 5-10 from deep and playing all 40 minutes, while Tami Morice chipped in a season-high ten points. Dru Clark had a career-high six assists, while Desirea Buerge had a career-high six boards.
 The Bearcats opened up a 6-1 lead early on, but the Lions went on a 13-0 run capped by a layup from Jones with 2:17 left in the quarter and led 14-6. A bucket from SBU the next trip down made the score 14-8 with 1:52 left and a last-second free throw was the only score for the rest of the quarter as the Lions led 14-9 after one.
 A three from Holcomb with 8:26 left in the second quarter gave the Lions a 22-12 lead and another three from Holcomb with 6:19 left made the score 26-12. However, SBU went on a 10-0 run and got to within four (26-22) with 4:19 to go.
 The Lions, however, answered right back and finished the half on an 11-2 run and led 37-24 going into the locker room. Holcomb led all scorers at the half with 16 points.
 A three from Dru Clark on the Lions' first possession of the second half put the score at 40-24, Southern. A three from Jones gave the Lions a 17-point lead (51-34) with 4:39 to go and a bucket from Morice with 2:35 left in the quarter pushed the lead to 19 (53-34). SBU finished the quarter on a 6-0 run.
 A jumper from Holcomb with just over seven minutes to go pushed the Lions' lead to 60-46, and the lead reached 13 five more times in the quarter before the final tally.
 Southern shot 47 percent from the field and 43 percent from the three-point line in the game. The Lions made just 68 percent of their free throws in the game, but made 80 percent of them in the second half.
 The Lions out rebounded SBU 35-33 and forced 17 turnovers, scoring 17 points off of the miscues.

Probable Starters
Missouri Southern (16-9, 10-9 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.)

Southwest Baptist (13-11, 8-10 MIAA)
 3 Caylee Richardson    F    6-2    Fr. (Hesston, Kan.)
 4 Alex Botkin    G    5-7    Jr. (Republic, Mo.)
10 Dilonna Johnson    G    5-7    Sr. ( Milwaukee, Wisc.)
20 Sarah Magana    G    5-6    Sr. (Bolivar, Mo.)
22 Mackenzie Skupa    F    6-2    Jr. (Campbell, Neb.)