Women's Basketball 02.28.16

Lions Host Northeastern State for MIAA Post-Season First Round

Women's Basketball 02.28.16

Lions Host Northeastern State for MIAA Post-Season First Round

Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Lions Women's basketball team seeded sixth in the MIAA Post-Season Tournament will host 11th seeded Northeastern State at 5:30 p.m. Monday evening on Robert Corn Court inside The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Last Time Out for the Lions (17-11, 11-11 MIAA)
Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern women's basketball team took No. 19 Pittsburg State to the wire today, but fell 62-61 to the Gorillas in front of a huge crowd on Senior Day at Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
The Lions (17-11, 11-11 MIAA) will host a first-round MIAA Tournament play-in game on Monday night at 5:30 pm inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. Southern earns the No. 6 seed in the MIAA Tournament and will play host to the No. 11 seed Northeastern State. The Lions defeated NSU 62-55 in the only meeting with the RiverHawks this season.
Southern was led offensively by Deb Holcomb as the junior scored 24 points and added eight rebounds, going 8-15 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Sharese Jones scored 11 points, while Kayla Kivinski had nine points off the bench.
PSU (24-4, 18-4 MIAA) had three score in double-figures with 24 points from Kylie Gafford.
The Lions trailed by as many as six in the first quarter, but a 4-0 run from Southern, capped off by a layup from Kivinski at the buzzer made the score 16-14, PSU at the end of the quarter.
A layup from Holcomb just 11 seconds into the second quarter tied the game at 16, but Pitt opened up an eight-point lead (26-18) with 6:44 to go in the half, A pair of free throws from Dru Clark with 1:38 left in the quarter cut the lead to three, but a jumper from Gafford with 58 seconds left made the halftime score 34-29.
The Lions took their first lead since the game's first bucket after a three from Jenson Maydew made the score 37-36 with 6:57 to go in the third. After Pitt had pushed the lead back to seven, the Lions worked the deficit to just two as the quarter ended.
Southern took the lead four more times in the fourth quarter, the last time at 61-59 after a layup from Clark with 2:05 to go. Pitt, however tied the game at 61 with a minute to go and the ensuing free throw was good as the Gorillas hung on to win.
Southern shot 51 percent from the field and 41 percent from long-range. The Lions made 86 percent of their free throws. Southern held Pitt to just 15 rebounds in the game, holding a 26-15 advantage, including 8-2 on the offensive boards, where the Lions scored 10 second chance points. Where the Lions suffered, however, was turnovers, as Pitt scored 25 points off of 16 Lions turnovers.

The RiverHawks (8-20, 5-17 MIAA) Last Time Out
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team lost 51-43 to Nebraska-Kearney Saturday afternoon at the NSU Event Center.
The RiverHawks (8-20, 5-17 MIAA) dropped their last four games to end the regular season, but they still secured the No. 11 seed in the 2016 MIAA Championship. NSU will meet No. 6 Missouri Southern State at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 29 in the opening round in Joplin, Missouri. The winner will travel to Kansas City for the remainder of the tournament, which will be held inside Municipal Auditorium. The Lopers (15-13, 11-11 MIAA) locked up the No. 8 seed in the tourney and will play host to No. 9 Southwest Baptist.
In Saturday's loss, Northeastern State was led by a pair of true freshman guards. Cailyn Long tallied 14 points, while Kylie Looney scored 11. True freshman forward Hailey Chamberlin finished with seven points, three blocks and a career-high 10 rebounds.
NSU shot 31.3 percent (15-for-48) overall, 22.7 percent (5-for-22) from behind the 3-point arc and 88.9 percent (8-for-9) at the free-throw line. Nebraska-Kearney shot 28.1 percent (16-for-57) from the field, 29.6 percent (8-for-27) from downtown and 84.6 percent (11-for-13) at the charity stripe.
Alexa Hogberg led UNK with 11 points, while Laramey Becker chipped in 10. Imani Kyser hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds, and Bri Starks pulled down 11 boards.
NSU led in blocks (6-5), steals (5-4) and points in the paint (18-12). UNK led in rebounding (40-37), assists (9-8), points off turnovers (12-10), second-chance points (15-4), fast-break points (2-0), bench points (11-9), and fewer turnovers (7-11).

The Series
This will be the 28th meeting between the RiverHawks and the Lions. NSU leads the overall series 15-12. The Lions have now won three in a row over Northeastern State with a 62-55 win in Joplin this season. The longest Lions win streak is three with Southern winning those games from Nov. 18, 2006 thru Nov. 28, 2008. Since joining the MIAA NSU is 2-3 against the Lions and 1-2 in Joplin with a 69-45 win on Jan. 26, 2013. The Lions lead the series at 5-3 since the opening of The Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

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 246-168 record, including a 56-25 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.

Northeastern State
Randy Gipson is currently in his 17th campaign at the helm of the Northeastern State women's basketball program. He entered the 2015-16 season with a combined 301-163 record as head coach of the RiverHawks. He has recorded 14 winning seasons in his 16 years at NSU, and he has led his program to seven appearances in the NCAA Championship. His NSU women's basketball teams have earned two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances (2004, '10), while advancing to the NCAA Second Round two of the last three seasons (2011-12).

Last Time vs. Northeastern State
Joplin, Mo. – Deb Holcomb had a career-high 23 points and added six rebounds as the Missouri Southern women's basketball team defeated visiting Northeastern State 62-55 today on Robert Corn Court inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
Southern (7-1, 1-1 MIAA) was led by Holcomb's 9-17 performance, including 3-8 from the field and 2-2 from the free- throw line. Sharese Jones had eight points, while Desirea Buerge and Jenson Maydew scored seven points each. Kenya Wilson-Brown added a career-high eight assists on the afternoon.
NSU (3-4, 0-2 MIAA) had two score in double-figures, led by 14 points from MaryJane Buschmann. Destiny Strange scored ten.
The Lions opened up the first quarter on fire and led 13-2 after a layup from Buerge with 4:13 left in the opening frame.
The RiverHawks, however, followed that up with an 8-0 run of their own to end the quarter as the Lions led 13-10 after one.
NSU kept the pressure on and outscored MSSU 16-9 in the second quarter. The RiverHawks tied the game at 17 with 7:13 left in the second quarter and took a 19-17 lead with 4:47 left in the quarter after a bucket from Strange.
A three pointer from Buschman with 31 seconds left in the half gave the RiverHawks their largest lead of the half at six (26-20), but a layup from Holcomb with eight seconds to go made the halftime score 26-22.
A bucket from Holcomb in the paint with 6:15 to go in the 3rd tied the game at 28, and an offensive rebound put back from Bri Shavers with 5:20 to go in the quarter gave the Lions a lead at 30-28.
The Lions' run reached 11-0 after a three from Holcomb gave Southern a 33-28 lead, forcing a RiverHawks' timeout. A three pointer for Dru Clark as time expired in the quarter gave Southern a 44-34 lead after three.
The RiverHawks opened up the fourth quarter with three-straight three pointers and cut the Lions' lead to one (44-43) with 7:39 left in the quarter. A reverse layup from Jones after the timeout stopped the run and pushed the score to 46-43.
After a three from the RiverHawks got the team to within seven (55-48) a three on the next trip down from Jones pushed the Lions' lead back to ten at 58-58 with 1:41 left in the game. A running layup from Holcomb made the score 60-51 with 48 seconds to go and forced an NSU timeout.
Southern held a 32-21 advantage on the boards and a 26-24 lead in the paint. The Lions shot 49 percent from the field and 53 percent from long-range, while making 70 percent of their free throws.

Projected Starters
Northeastern State (8-20, 5-17 MIAA)
  4    Alexis Hill    G    5-6    So. (Garland, Texas)
  5    Kate Bellamy    G    5-9    Sr. (Cambewarra, Australia)
20 Cailyn Long    G 6-0 Fr. (Sparta, Mo.)
    22   Kylie Looney    G    5-8    Fr. (Adair, Okla.)
23 Minja Savic F 6-3 Sr. (Jagodina, Serbia)

Missouri Southern (17-11, 11-11 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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