Women's Basketball 02.02.16

Lions Women Look for Season Sweep Against #16 Emporia State

Women's Basketball 02.02.16

Lions Women Look for Season Sweep Against #16 Emporia State

Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team will be going for the first season sweep of Emporia State since the 1995-96 season as they battle the 16th ranked Lady Hornets Wednesday night at William L. White Auditorium. Tip off in Emporia, Kansas is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

Last Time Out for The Lions (14-7, 8-7 MIAA)
Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team fought hard for 40 min Saturday afternoon but dropped a heartbreaker to sixth ranked Missouri Western 71-70 on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The loss drops the Lions to 14-7, 8-7 in the MIAA while Missouri Western breaks a two game losing skid to improve to 19-2 overall and 13-2 in conference play.
In a game that saw five ties and six lead changes each team largest lead was no more than nine, Missouri Western with 4:31 left in the first and the Lions largest lead was by five with 8:37 to play. The game was evenly matched throughout as both teams shot around 45 percent, 45.8 for Southern and 44.4 for the Griffons, from the floor; the Lions out rebounded Missouri Western 31-30; and both teams shot 20 or more free throws while only missing seven combined. Southern dished out 16 assists to Griffons' 10 and the Lions came up with five blocks to Western's four. MWSU had the advantage in steals 7-2 and in turnovers 9-17.
The game came down to the final possession for both teams as Missouri Western's Sarafina Hardy threw up a desperation three with 1.4 seconds left that found the bottom of the net and was fouled. She sank the free throw for the four point play and to give the Griffons a 71-70 lead. Missouri Southern advanced the ball into the front court with their final 30 second time out and after coming out of the huddle they couldn't get a good look at the bucket as they fell to the sixth ranked Griffons.
Junior Deb Holcomb led the Lions with 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting, 6-for-9 from three point range. Senior Sharese Jones continues her climb into the record books as she passed Patti (Killian) Coleman (1977-81) for sixth place in the all-time scoring list as she netted 21 points. For her career Jones now has 1,271 points with seven games left in the season, she needs just 83 points to pass fifth place Melissa Grider (1993-96). Jones led Southern in rebounding as she pulled down seven boards, that gives her 609 for her career just 25 away from breaking into the top five in that career category.

Last Time Out for (t-16) Lady Hornets (16-4, 10-4 MIAA)
January 30, 2016-The #11 Lady Hornets scored the first two points of the game and then gave up a 13-0 run by Central Missouri in a 69-64 loss in Warrensburg, Mo. on Saturday afternoon.
BAD START
Kelly Moten gave Emporia State a 2-0 lead on the opening possession of the game before the Jennies went on a 13-0 run to take the lead for good. Addie Lackey hit a jumper to break the run at the 5:21 mark and the Lady Hornets would outscore the Jennies 62-56 in the final 35 minutes of action.
CLOSING IN
The Jennies scored the first five points of the second half to take their biggest lead at 37-23 with 8:56 left in the third quarter. Emporia State used a 15-6 run to cut the deficit to five on a Kyrstie Miller three-pointer with 4:15 left in the period. UCM would push the lead back to ten points with 32 seconds left in the third. The Lady Hornets would then go on a 9-0 run that lasted into the fourth quarter to pull within 51-50 with 8:18 left in the game.
FINAL TWO MINUTES
The Jennies worked the lead back to 11 with 3:35 remaining. Emporia State answered with an 8-0 run to get within 63-60 with 2:22 left on an old fashioned three-point play by Kathryn Flott. After a pair of free throws by Ashley Jones made it 65-60, Kelly Moten would hit a layup to pull the Lady Hornets within 65-62 with 1:09 left. Emporia State got the ball back after a miss by UCM but failed to convert two three-point attempts and were forced to foul. The Jennies hit four of four free throws in the final 16.3 to seal the win.
THE NUMBERS
Kelly Moten led all scorers with 23 points and was joined in double figures by Addie Lackey with ten points. Kathryn Flott had eight points and 13 rebounds for Emporia State. The Lady Hornets, the top ranked team in the MIAA in rebound margin, was outrebounded 41-36 on the day.

The Series
Emporia State holds a 52-24 advantage over the Lions in the series between the two schools. However, the Lady Hornets are 19-17 in Joplin and are 10-6 on Robert Corn Court inside The Legett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Lions snapped a six game losing streak to Emporia State earlier this season winning 71-58 in Joplin on December 16. The longest winning streak for the Lady Hornets came back at the begining of the series as they rattled off 10 straight wins from Jan. 22, 1977 thru Jan. 17, 1981. The Lions longest winning streak came in the early to mid 90s as they strung together eight wins between Jan. 11, 1992 and Feb. 24, 1996. Joplin has been a dangerous place for ESU when they are ranked. The Lady Hornets are 5-5 in Joplin since 2001 when they are ranked in the Top 25, after losing at Southern in December. The Lady Hornets were ranked third in the WBCA/USA Today Coaches' Poll entering that contest.

Last Time vs. Emporia State
Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern women's basketball team went 7-7 from long-range and took out third-ranked Emporia State tonight on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Lions were led offensively by Deb Holcomb as the junior scored 20 points on 6-8 shooting and a perfect 5-5 from behind the arc. Chelsey Henry scored 11 points, while Bri Shavers had ten points and seven rebounds. Sharese Jones chipped in with nine points and five boards, going 5-6 from the free throw line.
The Lions trailed 5-4 after a bucket from the Lady Hornets' Addie Lackey with 7:45 left in the 1st quarter. However, Southern went on a 7-0 run capped off by a pair of freebies from Kenya Wilson-Brown and led 12-5 with 3:34 to go in the quarter. A pair of free throws from Henry and a defensive stop as time expired gave the Lions a 16-11 lead after one.
A three pointer from Jenson Maydew gave the Lions a ten-point lead (24-14) with 5:59 left in the second quarter. After the Hornets had got to within four (24-20), a layup from Maydew and a three from Holcomb pushed the Lions' lead back to nine (29-20) with 3:17 to go.
Another three from Holcomb, this with 1:12 left pushed the lead back to ten (32-22) and forced an Emporia timeout. A pair of freebies from Bri Shavers with 16 seconds left in the half pushed the lead back to ten (34-24) but a three from the Hornets as time expired gave Southern a 34-27 lead going into the locker room.
A three pointer from Holcomb gave Southern a 41-29 lead with 6:52 to go in the third quarter and a jumper from Holcomb gave the Lions a 16-point lead (47-31) with 4:55 to go in the quarter. Emporia got the Southern lead back to 12, but a free throw from Jones and a late bucket from Morice gave the Lions a 54-39 lead after three.
Southern started the fourth quarter cold and only had two free throws from Shavers through the first three minutes as Emporia opened up the quarter on a 7-2 run. ESU cut the Lions' lead to just five (56-51) with 3:54 left before a three from Holcomb with 3:37 to go gave Southern an eight-point advantage.
Another three from Holcomb, this time as time was expiring on the shot clock, gave the Lions a 62-55 lead with two minutes to go in the game. A pair of freebies from Wilson-Brown and a defensive stop for the Lions gave Southern a 64-56 lead with 1:17 to go and Southern broke the press to find a wide-open Henry with a big bucket to push the lead back to ten.

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 243-165 record, including a 53-22 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.

Emporia State
Jory Collins is in his sixth season as the head coach at Emporia State and has continued the excellent tradition of Lady Hornet basketball. He is the first Lady Hornet coach to have five 20 win seasons in his first five years as head coach. In those five seasons he has led Emporia State to three MIAA Tournament Championships, five conference title games and four trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 and last year's berth in the NCAA Division II Final Four. He is 127-36 as a head coach.

Probable Starters
Missouri Southern (14-7, 8-7 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.)

(t-16) Emporia State (16-4, 10-4 MIAA)
2   Kelly Moten   G   5-9   R-Jr.   (Gary, Ind.)
4   Kelsey Barnwell   G   5-7   Sr.   (Kansas, Okla.)
5   Sandra Ngoie   F   6-2   Sr.   (Stockholm, Sweden)
24   Addie Lackey   G   5-9   So.   (Hillsboro, Kan.)
30   Kathryn Flott   F   6-1   R-Jr.   (Olpe, Kan.)

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