Joplin, Mo. --  The Missouri Southern women's basketball team wraps their nationally ranked week on the road facing off against #14 Nebraska-Kearney tomorrow. Tip-off from the Health and Sport Center is set for 2:00 pm in Keanry, Neb. 

Game Information
Teams: Missouri Southern (11-5, 8-3 MIAA) vs. #14 Nebraska-Kearney (15-2, 10-1 MIAA)
Dates: Jan. 22, 2021
Tip-Off: 2:00 PM
Location: Kearney, Neb.
Site: Health and Sport Center
Series Record: Lions leads 20-18 Overall, Lopers lead 10-9 in Kearney.

Coaches
MSSU: Ronnie Ressel, 67-87 (6th Season Overall / at MSSU)
UNK: Carrie Eighmey, 196-94 (10th Season Overall), 128-63 (7th Season at UNK)

Media Coverage
MSSU Radio: Mike McClure - Play by play - SOMO Sports Joplin - 101.3, AM 1560 & KXMS 88.7 FM
Audio/Video/Stats - https://www.mssulions.com/coverage
Lions on Facebook:  Facebook.com/mososports
Lions on Twitter: @mososports; @MssuWbb

Lopers World
Nebraska-Kearney was picked to third in the MIAA preseason polls after finishing in third a season ago and making the Central Regional Championship game. This season the Lopers are in first place following the Lions win over Fort Hays State and have a record of 15-2, 10-1 in MIAA play. Elisa Backes is leading the charge as either the first one off the bench or a starter this season again to lead the team with 11.5 points per game and has 24 made three's. Brooke Carlson is averaging 9.2 points a game and 5.1 rebounds as a center. Haley Simental returns for her extra year as the point guard averaging 33 minutes a game, 8.1 points and has dished out 55 assists. Klaire Kirsch is averaging 8.3 points and 8.8 rebounds a game and has come away with a team-high 18 steals. Trinity Law is second on the team with 9.4 points a game while leading the team with 26 made three's. Shiloh McCool was the week four and five Athlete of the Week in the MIAA and is averaging 8.1 points and 7.1 rebounds this season.

Catching People's Attention
The Lions made their first appearance in the D2SIDA Regional Poll this year following a 3-0 week and Lacy Stokes being named MIAA WBB Athlete of the Week. Southern picked up eight points in the poll tying Northwest Missouri for ninth and was one of the sixth team in the top ten from the MIAA in the regional poll. Coming off a 54-41 road win over #2 Fort Hays State last week the Lions face off with #14 Nebraska-Kearney looking to beat ranked opponents back-to-back for the first time since 2003-04 taking out #4 Emporia State then #9 Washburn at home.

2021-22 Preseason MIAA Polls
The Lions were picked to finish 9th in the MIAA Coaches Poll and 10th in the Media Poll after going 9-14 overall and 9-13 in MIAA play during the 2020-21 campaign. The defending MIAA regular season champions Fort Hays State was picked to win the conference in both the media and coaches poll this season. Central Missouri who made it to the Final Four this past season was picked second in the coaches and tied with Fort Hays for first in the media poll. Picked third and fourth in both polls were Nebraska-Kearney and Emporia State. Each of the top-four teams made it to the Central Regional Tournament this past season. Rounding out the top eight teams were Central Oklahoma, Washburn, Pittsburg State and Missouri Western in both polls.

That's A Lot Of Games
The Lions' are on a streak of 622 games of having made at least one made three. The last game where they were shutout was Nov. 20, 1999 in Tahlequah, Okla playing Southern Arkansas losing 68-53.

All-MIAA
Madi Stokes was an All-MIAA honorable and All-Defensive Team selection last season after being the only player to average a double-double and ended the regular season leading the conference in blocks.

To The Extreme Stokes
This season the Lions will have two student-athletes with the last name Stokes (no relation) and they are the shortest and tallest player on the roster in Madi Stokes (6' 3") and Lacy Stokes (5'4").

Running It Back Again
Mount Vernon high school product Lacy Stokes has a familiar face to play with again as Cameron Call transferred to MSSU from Division I Illinois State. The pair were part of three consecutive district championships at Mount Vernon high school, before Lacy led the Mountaineers to a Class 4 Runners-up finish this past season. Call holds the three-point record with 210 made in her high school career and in her junior season connected on 91 threes a school record. Stokes as a senior averaged 25.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 6.1 steals per game, had over 100 wins in her high school career and have over 2,000 points at point guard.

Madi Is Stoked To Block You
Sophomore center Madi Stokes had a freshman campaign to remember as a defensive force down low. The Cassville, Missouri native had 33 blocks during the 2019-20 season finishing fifth in the MIAA overall and eighth in Division II for freshman. Last season she had 50 blocks the second most in a single-season at MSSU. She ranked 10th in Division II for blocks (1st among Sophomores) and finished second in the MIAA after the postseason concluded while leading the MIAA in blocks for a majority of the season. Tied the school record of seven at Rogers State (Jan 28, 2021). At the beginning of the 2021-22 season Stokes is tied with Jenson Maydew (2014-18) for third in career blocks at 83.

Climbing The Chart Fast
Madi Stokes has quickly rose up the career blocking list at MSSU where she is currently third passing Jenson Maydew's (2014-18) total of 83 and is second in blocks per game at 1.68 behind Joyce Falls (1986-88) who had a 1.69 blocks per game average.

Madi Has It
Last season Madi Stokes led the MIAA in blocks per game (2.17) and rebounds per game (10.5), second in blocks (50), defensive rebounds per game (8.2) and total rebounds (242). Fifth in double-doubles (7) and was eighth in offensive rebounds per game (2.3) last season. Ranked 10th in Division II for blocks, 15th in defensive rebounds per game, 19th in blocks per game, 21st in rebounds per game and 34th in double-doubles.

20-20's New Member
Madi Stokes against Emporia State (Jan. 16, 2021) finishing with 21 points and 22 rebounds (10 offensive) becoming the third member of the 20-20 club at Southern. The most recent since Marie Scott had a 24 point 22 rebound game (Nov. 24, 1995) in a 81-71 win over Missouri Valley. The last time anyone in the MIAA had a 20-20 game was Vivian Essuon who had 20 points and 23 rebounds against Missouri Western Jan. 7, 2012. Stokes was the second player to achieve the feat in Division II as Lilly Ritz did it the same day putting up 22 points and 25 rebounds (10 offensive). For the 2020-21 season only Stokes, Ritz (Wheeling) and Zyaire Ewing (Delta St.) Achieved a 20 points - 20 rebound game.

Corn Dogs Jackie
The Lions secured a 103-58 home victory over Lincoln on December 18th in the last game of 2021 for the program.  Reaching the 100 point total for the second time during Ronnie Ressel's tenure with the other coming on December 30, 2017 at home against Graceland in a 100-44 win. This was the most points scored by the Lions inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center since a 104-28 win over Ozark Christian on December 6, 2005.

30-20 History
Madi Stokes became the first player to achieve a 30 point - 20 rebound game in Southern's history at Rogers State (Jan. 28, 2021). Putting up a career-high 31 points shooting 13-of-19 from the field and pulling down 21 rebounds and blocking a single-game tying seven blocks in the overtime win. It is the first 30-20 game of the 2020-21 season in Division II, Ritz (Wheeling) and Danielle Norquest (West Florida) also accomplished the feat later on in the season.

Freshman Scoring Record Had L&P Stoked
Lacy Stokes set a new school record for freshman scoring with 33 last time out against Central Oklahoma (Dec. 2nd) that powered the Lions to a 81-74 win. Lacy is the first freshman since the 1984-85 season to have 30+ points and one of only four freshman or sophomores to score 30+ points in a game for the Lions since the 84-85 season.

Lacy Floods The Box Score To Open Season
Freshman point guard Lacy Stokes opened her collegiate career with 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals. Lacy repeated the trick with a 21 point, eight assist, seven rebound, three steal and a block game while playing 42 minutes of an overtime loss to Harding (Nov. 13th).

Freshman Had A Historic Start
Lacy Stokes became the first freshman since Joyce Falls (1986-87) to begin a season with back-to-back 20+ point games. Stokes' 25 points against Henderson State (Nov. 12th) rank seventh among all Missouri Southern players in a season opening game since the 1984-85 season and the first to score 25+ points since Jasmine Lovejoy scored the second most points in a season opener finishing with a double-double of 36 points and 15 rebounds against Arkansas-Fort Smith (Nov. 16, 2010)

Athlete Of The Week
Freshman guard Lacy Stokes won the MIAA Athlete of the Week for Week Nine after leading the Lions to a 3-0 week and averaged 20.3 points, 6.6 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 steals a game while shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 77.3 percent from free throws.

Bench Sparks Turned Starters
Redshirt freshman guard Kaitlin Hunnicutt and junior guard/forward Amaya Johns brought it off the bench this past season and are now in the starting lineup regularly. Hunnicutt was fourth on the team in scoring averaging 6.7 points a game, and connected on 26 threes. Her season-high of 15 was on the road against Pittsburg State (Jan. 9, 2021) . Johns led all bench scoring with 7.7 per game in 14 minutes a game. Her season-high of 21 points happened at home against Rogers State (Dec. 5, 2020) shooting 7-of-9 from the field, 1-of-2 from the three point line and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. This season Hunnicutt is averaging 7.9 points and 2.8 rebounds a game while connecting on a team-high 28 threes so far and is shooting 38.9 percent from three. This season Johns is averaging 11.1 points and pulling down 4.9 rebounds a game.

Den Of Thieves
This season Lacy Stokes, Kaitlin Hunnicutt, Layne Skiles and Brooke Stauffer have established themselves as top talents in stealing the ball from the opposition. Stokes leads the MIAA with 3.25 steals a game and 52 total steals while Hunnicutt, Skiles and Stauffer all have 16 steals to rank in the top-25 in the MIAA. Hunnicutt became the first Lion since Krista Clark (Dec. 30, 2017) to have a game with 5 or more steals in the Lions 84-65 win at Rogers State and Stokes repeated the feat against McKendree (Dec.13).

Historic Thievery
Lacy Stokes is her first season in the Green and Gold is having a season to remember already posting 6 steals against Lincoln (Dec.18) and Missouri Western (Jan. 3) while having a 5 steal game against McKendree (Dec. 13) and Washburn (Jan. 13). Stokes is the first Lion since Alexis Fitzpatrick (2013-14) to have two 6+ steal games in a season and is also the first freshman since Jayme Callahan (1998-99) to have two 6+ steal games in a season. No freshman has ever had three games of 6 or more steals in school history.

Quick Hands
True freshman Lacy Stokes is adept at passing and stealing the ball highlighted by the fact that she leads the MIAA in steals (52) and steals per game (3.25) while also leading the conference in assist per game (5.9) and total assists (95) and is second in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.39). Across Division II she leads freshman in steals, assists, assist-to-turnover ratio, assists per game and steals per game.

Who Wants To Get Blocked
This season the lions feature two of the premier shot blockers in the MIAA in redshirt guard/forward Hailey Grant and sophomore center Madi Stokes. Stokes leads the team with 26 (Second in MIAA) and Grant has 17 (Ninth in MIAA) blocks on the season. The pairing pace the Lions who average 4.1 blocks per game with 66 blocks to lead the MIAA in blocks per game and blocks.

Bench Scoring Coming Alive
This season the Lions have averaged 25.5 points per game as a bench unit and are led by sophomore center Madi Stokes who averages 11.0 points and 6.9 rebounds a game while blocking 26 shots and is shooting .582 from the field (64-110). Sophomore guard Cameron Call is second averaging 6.6 points per game and is shooting .352 from three (19-54) and has dished out 15 assists while averaging 21.1 minutes a game. As a unit the Lions scored 41 of their 74 points in the win against Missouri S&T (Nov. 20) as freshman guard Mia Topping finished with 12 points and Cameron Call added 11 points, both career-highs. The Lions against McKendree (Dec. 13) scored 55 of their 92 points from the bench with Stokes leading all scorers with 19 points and Call adding 13 of her own. Maleigha Landers connected on three from deep for nine points, Anna Hall scored eight, Mia Topping connected on two three's and Hailey Grant came away with career-highs in rebounds (10) and assists (7).

Let It Fly
This season the Lions are returning their top three-point shooters from 2020-21 in Layne Skiles and Kaitlin Hunnicutt while having Brooke Stauffer, Kaiulani Jones, Amaya Johns and Hailey Grant as capable shooters along with Division I Transfer Cameron Call to stretch the floor this season.

Three's A Raining
In the 103-58 home win over Lincoln the Lions tied two school records for three point shooting. going 14-34 from deep the Lions achieved 14 made threes for the fourth time in school history and the first since January 25, 2003 at Truman State in which they set a school record with 34 attempts from deep as well. Jacquie Rzeszut went 7-16 and Katie Deen was 4-11 in that game against Truman.

Skiles Creates A Historic Quadfecta
It is not every day you set a new standard but against Northeastern State (Jan. 11, 2022) Layne Skiles did that. Skiles who currently has 648 points, 106 three's, 114 free throws and 106 assists in her career becoming the first Lion to have 500+ points, 100+ three's, free throws and assists in a career. Became the 14th Lion to have 100+ three's, the 52nd to have 500+ points and 100+ free throws and the 53rd Lion to have 100+ career assists since 1984-85. Looking to become the 26th Lion to have 700+ points and 300+ rebounds in a career, currently with 648 points and 305 rebounds.

Climb The Three Point Ladder
Layne Skiles in her career is 106-285 (37.2) from three, ranking 8th in percentage with at least 1 make per game, 13th in makes and16th in attempts in MSSU history.

Madi Joins 500 Career Point, Rebounds Club Against #2 Tigers
Currently Madi Stokes has 554 career points and has pulled down 502 rebounds so far in her career, becoming the 13th Lion to have 500+ career points and rebounds and only Caryn Schumaker (1987-91) has more blocks presently at 109 the second best amount in MSSU history.