Joplin, Mo. - The Missouri Southern women's basketball program notched its seventh-consecutive win today taking out Northeastern State 55-47 inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The Lions (14-5, 11-3 MIAA) were led by true freshman guard Lacy Stokes with 20 points going 7-of-13 from the field while adding seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. This was the sixth game this season with Lacy scoring 20 or more points this season. Redshirt freshman guard Kaitlin Hunnicutt came away with 13 points going 5-of-10 from the field and hauled in a season-high tying seven rebounds.
 
Junior guard/forward Layne Skiles added eight points going 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-5 from three while adding seven rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Center Madi Stokes led the Lions with nine rebounds and blocked three shots moving her career tally to 116 just three away from tying the school record set by Zoe Campbell (2017-21).
 
Northeastern State (4-15, 2-11 MIAA) was led by Maleeah Langstaff with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Maegan Lee also had 12 points and hauled in four rebounds for the RiverHawks. Ashton Hackler added nine points and grabbed five rebounds before fouling out for Northeastern State.
 
Southern got on the board first and opened a 5-0 lead after a Lacy Stokes floater with 8:39 remaining in the first quarter. Northeastern State responded with a four point play before the Lions opened the game up with a 10-0 run capped off by a Lacy Stokes jumper assisted by junior guard/forward Amaya Johns with 3:32 left in the quarter.
 
The RiverHawks kept it close after closing the first quarter with a 5-0 run that eventually grew to a 15-5 run over most of the second quarter making it a one point Lion lead (20-19) with 2:38 remaining in the first half. The Lions responded with a 5-0 run capped off by a Skiles layup assisted by Lacy Stokes her third of the game with 1:18 remaining and went into the half up 26-24.
 
Coming out of the halftime break with a four point lead, the Lions went on a 11-4 run to making it a nine point lead (37-28) with 4:02 left in the third quarter following a redshirt freshman guard/forward Hailey Grant free throw. A 7-3 RiverHawks run cut the Lion lead to five with 1:51 before the teams traded points to go into the fourth quarter 44-39 with the Lions leading.
 
After a pair of Lion baskets, Northeastern State went on an 8-3 run to keep it interesting but ultimately couldn't come within three of the Lions (51-47) as Southern scored the last four points of the game following a Lacy Stokes free throw and a trio of made free throws by Hunnicutt.
 
As a team the Lions had a better field goal percentage than the RiverHawks (35.1-31.6), made more free throws (11-6), had more steals (11-3), blocks (5-2), forced 18 RiverHawk turnovers, scored more fastbreak points (13-6), points off turnovers (16-2) and points in the paint (28-26).
 
Up next for the Lions will be Lincoln on Thursday February 3^rd in Jefferson City before closing the week with a pivotal game against Central Missouri in Warrensburg on Saturday February 5^th.  Tip-off from Jason Gym on Thursday is set for 5:30 pm and from the Multipurpose Building on Saturday at 1:00 pm.