Women's Basketball 02.26.16

Lions Women Set to Close Regular Season with #19 Pittsburg State

Women's Basketball 02.26.16

Lions Women Set to Close Regular Season with #19 Pittsburg State

Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Women will close out the 2015-16 regular season tomorrow as they host 19th ranked Pittsburg State at 1 p.m. on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The Lions (17-10, 11-10 MIAA) Last Time Out
Warrensburg, Mo. - For the first time since 2009 Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team beat Central Missouri on their home court, and for the first time since 2008 Southern swept the season series from the Jennies with the 76-73 overtime win Saturday afternoon.
The Jennies (9-15, 8-12) started the game on a 4-0 run before sophomore Dru Clark drilled a three from seniorSharese Jones to ignite a 12-0 Southern (17-10, 11-10 MIAA) run to take the 12-4 lead with threes from Jones and junior Deb Holcomb, a jumper from Holcomb, and a free throw from sophomore Bri Shavers. The Lions pushed their lead up to nine on a lay-up from Clark with just under a minute left in the quarter and then again to ten, 24-14, on a three pointer from sophomore Kayla Kivinski from sophomore Jenson Maydewwith 30 seconds left in the quarter. A free throw from UCM's Ashley Jones with eight seconds on the clock made it 24-15 headed into the quarter break.
The Lions pushed their lead to 11 on their first possession of the second quarter when Holcomb hit a jumper in the lane off an offensive rebound by Kivinski. Central Missouri traded buckets with the Lions on the next three possessions until a lay-up from Maydew at the 5:58 mark made it 34-25 and a lay-up from Jones 1:40 later made it 36-25. Central Missouri closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the lead down to 36-32 at the half. Southern out shot the Jennies 58 percent (15-for-26) to 56 percent (14-for-25) in the opening half. The Lions made four three pointers in the first two quarters to UCM's zero and the Jennies out rebounded Southern 13-10. Jones led the Lions with 13 points while Holcomb added 11 to go with three assists. Central was led by Shelby Winklemann with 11 points and Ashley Jones added 10.
Central Missouri pushed their 7-0 run to 13-0 as they started the third quarter with six straight points to take a 38-36 lead before Jones sank a lay-up to stop the bleeding at tied it back at 38 all with 8:28 left in the quarter. From that point on no team lead by more than two points with Central Missouri leading three times, three ties, and the Lions taking their only lead of the quarter (46-44) on a pair of free throws by Clark with :08 on the clock.
Central Missouri tied the game at 46-46 just a minute into the final quarter and took the two point led on a layup by Winklemann with just over eight minutes left. A three point play from Jones gave the Lions a one point lead at the 7:42 mark before a 5-0 run by UCM gave the Jennies a 53-49 lead with 6:16 to go. The Lions mounted a 6-0 run of their own with a three from Maydew and a jumper and free throw from Holcomb to take a 55-53 lead with two and a half left in regulation. The Jennies closed the fourth on a 5-1 run, all five from Winklemann, to force overtime at the Multipurpose Building. The win gave the Missouri Southern men a chance to complete the first ever season series sweep of Central Missouri.
In the extra period it was all Lions after a pair of freebies from Jones made it 60-59 just a minute and a half into it. The Southern lead got up to seven, 71-64, on a pair of charities from Holcomb with 48 seconds left and another pair of free throws from Jones with 18 seconds left made it 76-71 and gave her a new career high of 31 points.
Jones led all scorers with the 31 points and UCM was led by Winklemann with 29. Holcomb added 18 points and a set a new career high in assists with eight for the Lions while Shavers pulled down a team high seven rebounds. Senior Kenya Wilson-Brown finishing with five swipes, recorded her 49th steal of the year. Jones' 31 points gives her 1,383 points for her career and puts her four points behind Linda Castillion (1979-83) for for fourth place all-time at MSSU.

The #19 Gorillas (23-4, 17-4 MIAA) Last Time Out
BOLIVAR, Mo. -- With 8:46 to go in the game, senior Kylie Gafford scored her 1,000th career point as the Pittsburg State women's basketball team earned its 12th consecutive win with a 65-50 victory over Southwest Baptist on Saturday (Feb. 20). The Gorillas are now 23-4 on the season and 17-4 in MIAA play.
Gafford was one of three players in double figures, as she finished with 13 points. Gafford also pulled down 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Mikaela Burgess led all players with 20 points. Paige Lungwitz also pitched in 11. Cathy Brugman was just under double figures with nine points. Brugman and Hadyn Herlocker each had three assists, while Herlocker had five steals.
Southwest Baptist led 13-10 after the first quarter, but the Gorillas used a 14-3 run to end the first half to take a 32-26 lead into the lockerroom.
A 7-0 run in the third, capped by a Gafford layup with 4:14 to go, gave Pitt State its first double digit lead of the game. SBU brought the game within three again early in the fourth quarter, but Pitt State outscored the Bearcats 18-9 in the quarter, including holding the home team scoreless for the last 5:07 of the game for the 65-50 win.

The Series
This is the 87th meeting between the Trophy Series rivals, the second most played series in Southern history. Pitt State holds a 45-41 advantage, with the Lions winning two of the last three. Pitt State holds a 26-17 advantage inside John Lance Arena, while Southern leads 23-18 in Joplin and the series is tied 1-1 on neutral courts. The series is split in the last four meetings with the Lions winning two of the last three in Pittsburg which includes a 72-68 overtime win last season on Feb. 21. Southern's longest winning streak was eight games from December 12, 1974 thru February 24, 1978. Pitt State's longest winning streak was at 10 from January 28, 1998 thru February 13, 2002.

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 246-167 record, including a 56-24 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.

Pittsburg State
Lane Lord enters his ninth season as head women's basketball coach at Pittsburg State University. Lord brings a fast-paced, fan-friendly style of basketball to Pittsburg and with his proven track record of success, the future of Pitt State women's basketball is bright. He has a 154-83 (.626) record in his time with the Gorillas.

Last Time vs. The Gorillas
Pittsburg, Kan. – A cold shooting second half doomed the Missouri Southern Women's Basketball team Saturday afternoon as they fell to rival Pittsburg State 68-45 in John Lance Arena.
Both teams started slow as Pittsburg State (13-4, 7-4 MIAA) went 9-for-28 from the field while the Lions (11-6,-5-6 MIAA) went 8-for-22. Junior Deb Holcomb got the scoring started on the second possession of the game as she drained a jumper off the assist from sophomore Dru Clark. Pitt State scored three layups in a row to take a 6-2 lead and held the lead for the rest of the quarter despite a pair of layups from senior Sharese Jones that cut the Gorillas lead to one twice at 8-7 and 10-9.
The second quarter started with a pair of free throws for Pitt State's Mikaela Burgess to push the lead back to three before Clark drained a three to give the game its second tie of the afternoon. The Gorillas regained the lead on a Burgess three and never looked back in the quarter as they took a 24-18 lead into the locker room. Southern was held scoreless for 6:42 in the second before a layup from Holcomb with five seconds left.
Senior Kenya Wilson-Brown started the second half with a jumper off the assist from Jones to cut the Gorillas lead to 24-20. After a bucket from Pitt State, Holcomb cut the lead back to four at 26-22 off a pull up jumper. Pittsburg State then went on a 14-0 run to open a 40-22 lead with 4:51 left in the quarter and pushed their lead up to 20 at 47-27 on a three pointer from Shelby Lopez with 48 seconds left in the third.
The fourth quarter started with both teams trading buckets before back-to-back three pointers from PSU's Paige Lungwitz and Burgess gave the Gorillas a 58-34 with 6:19 to play. The Pitt State lead grew to as many as 29 on a layup from Paige Imhoff before the Lions scored the final three buckets of the game.
Holcomb led the Lions with 18 points going 8-for-18 from the field while pulling down six rebounds. Jones added 14 points going 5-for-11 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line and led the team in rebounds with eight and assists with three.

Probable Starters
#19 Pittsburg State (23-4, 17-4 MIAA)
   10   Paige Lungwitz   G   5-10   Jr. (Wichita, Kan.)
   12   Hadyn Herlocker   G   5-7   Jr. (Girard, Kan.)
   15   Mikaela Burgess   G   5-7   So. (Webb City, Mo.)
   23   Kylie Gafford   F   6-2   Sr. (Overland Park, Kan.)
   34   Cathy Brugman   G/F   6-1   Sr. (Wichita, Kan.)

Missouri Southern (17-10, 11-10 MIAA)
  1   Dru Clark   G   5-7   So. (Collinsville, Okla.)
   11   Kenya Wilson-Brown   G   5-5   Sr. (Arlington, Texas)
   24   Deb Holcomb   G   5-7   Jr. (Dallas, Texas)
   30 Bri Shavers F 6-0 So. (Carrollton, Texas)
   44   Sharese Jones   G   5-8   Sr. (St. Charles, Mo.)

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