Tahlequah, Okla. – The Missouri Southern women's basketball program will return home victorious 78-62 inside the NSU Events Center against Northeastern State tonight.
 
The Lions (8-5, 5-3 MIAA) were led by true freshman guard Lacy Stokes with 23 points going 9-of-18 from field while providing eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals. Junior guard/forward Amaya Johns had a season-high 18 points going 8-of-15 from the field while swatting away two shots.
 
Junior guard/forward Layne Skiles finished with 15 points going 5-of-8 from three becoming the first Lion to make five or more three's in a game since Feb. 6, 2021 at home against Central Missouri by Skiles. Skiles finished the game with 102 career three's in the Green and Gold, the 14^th Lion to achieve the feat and ties Katie Deen for 13^th currently.
 
Sophomore center Madi Stokes rounded out the Lions in double figures with 12 points going 6-of-7 from the field, pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and had five blocks to become the first Lion in history to have a game(s) of 5,6 and 7 blocks in their career while picking up her 101^st block in the game as well.
 
Northeastern State (3-10, 1-6 MIAA) was led by Megan Langstaff with 24 points going 9-of-18 from the field while pulling down six rebounds. Zaria Collins had 17 points and seven rebounds to go with three steals. Aston Hackler finished with 10 points as well to round out double-digit scorers.
 
Southern began the game in an unusual fashion this season, getting on the board second and being held scoreless in the first two minutes. Johns got the Lions on the board with a pull up jumper with 7:24 left in the first quarter with Lacy Stokes picking up her first assist of the night as well.
 
A 12-2 run by the Lions opened a 12-5 lead following a Skiles three from redshirt freshman guard/forward Hailey Grant with 4:12 left in the first quarter. The RiverHawks closed the Lion lead down to four (18-14) by the end of the first quarter, as the Lions never let the RiverHawks within five again.
 
Lacy Stokes began the scoring in the second quarter with a three from a Madi Stokes assist that jumpstarted a 16-0 run by the Lions in the quarter. The RiverHawks responded with a 10-4 run to close out the half down 38-24 with Lacy Stokes and Johns already in double figures.
 
Coming out of the half the Lions had a fast start to the quarter with a 15-2 run capped off by a Johns layup, with redshirt freshman Kaitlin Hunnicutt picking up her third assist of the game with 6:08 remaining. Skiles finished the scoring in the third quarter with her 100^th career three as Lacy Stokes picked up her fifth assist with three minutes left in the third quarter as the Lions led 61-32 the largest lead of the game.
Northeastern State scored the first points in the fourth quarter before going on a 9-5 run to cut the Lion lead to 16 (66-50) with 6:03 remaining. Lacy Stokes and the Lions responded with a 10-4 run to extend the lead to 22 (76-54) with 3:13 left as the RiverHawks comeback attempt came too late falling 78-62.
 
As a team the Lions won the battle in field goal percentage (49.2-37.1), three's made (10-1), rebounds (45-30), assists (20-10), blocks (10-3) and second chance points (15-6). The 10 blocks by the Lions was one short of the school record set against Lincoln on Feb. 29, 2020 with Madi Stokes coming away with a freshman record six blocks.
 
Up next for Southern is Washburn inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on Thursday. Tip-off set for 5:30 pm.