Joplin, Mo. – The Missouri Southern women's basketball team got 17 points from Chelsey Henry and 15 from Desirea Buerge, but couldn't overcome a slow first quarter as the Lions fell 71-57 to 21^st ranked Central Missouri in the regular-season finale.
 
Southern (12-16, 7-12 MIAA) was led by Henry's 17 points as she went 7-15 from the field and 2-7 from long range. Buerge had 15 points and nine rebounds, while Julianna Wadsworth scored nine.
 
Central (21-5, 14-4 MIAA) was led in scoring by 26 points from Paige Redmond.
 
The Jennies opened up an 11-4 lead with 5:33 left in the first quarter and a three with 5:11 left made it 14-6. The lead was 18-6 with 3:15 left and the Jennies led 25-11 after one.
 
A pair of freebies from Buerge with 4:05 left in the 2^nd cut the Jennies' lead to 16 (32-16) and a three-point play from Buerge with 2:03 to go made the score 32-20, Central.
 
A three from Amelia Bramer with 36 seconds left cut the lead to nine (36-25) but a free throw from the Jennies in the waning seconds made the score 35-25 at the break.
 
The Jennies extended their lead to 43-29 after a pair of free throws with 5:05 left in the third, but an 8-5 run from Southern, capped by a jumper from Henry cut the lead back to ten at 47-37 with 1:40 to go. Central, however, closed the quarter on a 6-1 run to lead 53-38 after three.
 
A layup from Bramer with 6:39 left cut the lead to 14 (56-42), but that would be as close as the Lions would get.
 
Southern shot 41 percent from the field and 85 percent from the free throw line, while the Jennies hit 46 percent from the field and 40 percent from long-range.
 
The Lions will now wait for games on Saturday to find out their next opponent in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament.