Joplin, Mo. - The ninth ranked Missouri Southern women's basketball program will play host to the Prairie Stars of Illinois Springfield tomorrow in the teams last non-conference regular season game of the season.
Game Information
Teams: #9/9 Missouri Southern (11-1, 4-1 MIAA) vs Illinois Springfield (0-11, 0-4 GLVC)
Dates: Dec. 30th, 2022
Tip-Off: 5:30 PM
Location: Joplin, Mo.
Site: Leggett & Platt Athletic Center
Series Record: Tied 2-2
Coaches
MSSU: Ronnie Ressel, 91-90 (7th Season Overall / at MSSU)
UIS: Summer Quesenberry, 90-145 (10th Season Overall), 0-11 (1st Season at UIS)
Media Coverage
MSSU Radio: Mike McClure - Play by play - 101-7 the Vault - 101.7 FM
Video/Stats - https://www.mssulions.com/coverage
Lions on Facebook: Facebook.com/mososports
Lions on Twitter: @mososports; @MssuWbb
Prairie Stars Visit
Last season Illinois Springfield went 17-11, 11-9 GLVC and was knocked out by Missouri - St. Louis in the GLVC Quarterfinals. This season the Praire Stars are off to a 0-11, 0-4 GLVC start in Summer Quesenberry's first season in charge. Ariyah Douglas leads the way with a per game average of 18.2 points and 2.7 rebounds while shooting 27-of-79 from three for 34.2 percent. Liz Uhl (10-of-31), Brianna Zajicek (11-of-50) and Ava Bardic (17-of-55) and Ashley Wachter (10-of-21) are the shooters for the team from three as the Prairie Stars average 34.2 percent from deep and connect on 9.5 per game.
3-D
One of the deciding stats in this match up will be the Lions three point defense going up against the Prairie Stars hot shooting from deep. In the month of December so far Illinois Springfield is shooting 40.8 percent going 51-of-125 from three with the leaders in the month being Ariyah Douglas going 17-of-36 for 47.2 percent and Ava Bardic going 8-of-22 for 36.4 percent. The Lions in the month have limited the opposition to going 27-of-100 from three for 27.0 percent with only one player draining three in a game during the five previous games this month. Overall the Praire Stars are 105-of-307 from three for 34.2 percent while the Lions opponents so far are 58-of-219 for 26.5 percent from three.
WBCA Update
With the latest edition of the WBCA poll the Lions are still ranked in the top-ten after suffer their first loss of the season. The Lions were ranked in the top-five for three straight weeks and are now for the 12th week overall in the top-ten. In the WBCA history the Lions have featured in 26 weeks and have gone from 19th-10th-5th-4th- 3rd-9th in the rankings.
Anchors Down, Aye, Aye, Captain!
A common theme of teams coached by Ronnie Ressel is their defensive ability and this season the Lions rank15th in Division-II for field goal percentage defense (34.7), 13th for blocks per game (4.6) and 123rd for scoring defense (55.8). In the MIAA the Lions are the leaders in blocks per game and field goal percentage defense while being fourth for scoring defense and third for three point percentage defense (26.5).
The Stokes Act. 2
The dynamic duo of Lacy and Madi Stokes may have a near telepathic relationship on the court but the two are not as similar as they may seem on paper. Both are from small towns in Missouri and own program records for their freshman years but neither is related to each other. Lacy is a lefty point guard standing at 5-4 while Madi is a right handed center standing at 6-3. Madi is entering her fifth season around the program after redshirting as a true freshman in the 2018-19 season, while Lacy is entering her second season for the Green and Gold. Both have scored over 800 career points and grabbed over 220 rebounds in their careers but Madi holds the advantage in career blocks (160-3) and field goals made (341-275) with Lacy holding the advantage in career steals (133-34), free throws made (207-123) and assists (249-63).
Bench Spark Specialist
Amaya Johns in her career has scored 612 points in 64 games with 12 starts wearing the Green and Gold. Johns for her career averages 18.0 minutes, 9.6 points and 4.1 rebounds a game while shooting 73.0 percent from free throws going 111-of-152. This season the guard/forward is off to a quick start averaging 9.8 points and 4.9 rebounds a game in 17.8 minutes. Johns is one of just one of four players in program history to score over 600 career points while being used mostly off the bench with Lyndsey Kenealy (96-00) having 867 points ranking 24th, Jenson Maydew (14-18) having 749 points ranking 38th and Dominique Mosley (12-14) having 650 points ranking 47th in career scoring.
Kryslyn Clear
New to the team this season is Kryslyn Jones a junior guard from Edmond, Okla. who played for Texas A&M - Kingsville last season after being at Seminole State for two years. Jones was an All-LSC (Lone Star Conference) third team selection last season after averaging 10.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 steals a game while going 49-of-130 from three (37.7). Jones helped the Javelinas to their first winning season since the 2009-10 season and made the Lone Star Conference Tournament for the first time since 2018-19. At Seminole State she was a NJCAA Region II Player of the Year, NJCAA and WBCA All-American, Region II All-Tournament selection along with being an All-Region first teamer. For the Lions she is averaging 9.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals a game while shooting 37.3 percent from three going 22-of-59 from deep.
Sweet Like Honey
Kaitlin Hunnicutt is nearing 500 career points for the Green and Gold with 406 currently in 65 games. The guard who is a starter for the second year in a row and is currently 71-of-217 from three to rank tied for 21st in makes, 22nd in attempts and 24th for percentage among qualified shooters. Last year Hunnicutt became the first player since Krista Clark (Dec. 30, 2017) to have a five or more steal game against Rogers State (Dec. 11, 2021) and ended the season with 30 to rank third on the team
Emerging Topping
Mia Topping is enjoying an expanded role this season off the bench with the sophomore from Fort Worth, Texas playing in 11.1 minutes while averaging 4.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while shooting 87.5 percent from free throws (14-of-16). This season Topping had an impressive game against Central Christian College (Nov. 26, 2022) finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists to go with two blocks and two steals. On the road at Newman she finished with seven points, five assists, and four rebounds while going 3-of-3 from the field and 1-of-1 from three against the Jets.
November Recap
This season the Lions began the season off by playing three teams either receiving votes or were ranked in the WBCA poll and have beaten the preseason ranked first and third teams in the GAC, second team in the NSIC, along with the second and fourth teams in the LSC. Week 1 the Lions got wins over Lubbock Christian and Minnesota - Duluth, the first in series history against the schools. Week 2 saw a trip to Searcy, Ark. where the Lions avenged losses from last season against Henderson State and Harding in the MIAA/GAC Challenge with the Stokes' averaging 7.5 points, 17.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 2.0 blocks per game. Week 3 had just Angelo State on the schedule and the Lions made a statement 83-66 win with four reaching double figures in Kryslyn Jones (18), Lacy Stokes (17), Amaya Johns (16) and Layne Skiles (12). Week 4 had Missouri S&T and Central Christian College coming to Joplin and the Lions set down the Miners and Tigers in convincing fashion. Against CCC, Southern would set two new program records, tie one program record, set 27 individual career-highs and tie 14 individual career-highs. The team three pointers attempted record was set originally at Truman State (Jan. 25, 2004) and tied last season against Lincoln (Dec. 18, 2021) and is now at 35. The bench scoring effort by Mia Topping (16), Hailey Grant (13), Cameron Call (12), Amaya johns (10) and Peyton Mosley (10) is the first time ever in program history to have five off the bench reach double figure scoring. For the first time since Feb. 25, 1986 against William Jewell in the NAIA District 16 Tournament the Lions had three players achieve double digit rebounds, against the Cardinals all three were starters in Gayle Klenke (12 points, 12 rebounds), Anita Rank (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Margaret Womack (26 points, 12 rebounds) while against the Tigers Madi Stokes (12 rebounds, 6 points) was the lone starter as Hailey Grant (14 rebounds, 13 points) and Amaya Johns (10 rebounds, 10 points) came off the bench and achieved a double-doubles.
December Recap So Far
The last month of 2022 started off with a defensive battle in Week 1 against Northwest Missouri with the Lions prevailing 52-37 to begin MIAA play and saw Layne Skiles set a new program record for career games played making her 120th appearance. Game two of December had the Griffons come to town with the Lions able to complete a comeback and roar out 75-69 winners in the first MIAA weekend as Lacy Stokes (18), Kryslyn Jones (15) and Hailey Grant (13) fueled the win and provided key moments in the Lions 30 point fourth quarter. Week 2 saw the Lions pick up road wins over Central Missouri and Newman with Lacy Stokes being named MIAA A.O.W for the week after averaging 16.5 points, 6.5 assists, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals and had a 13.00 assist-turnover ratio. Week 3 had just one game on the schedule for the Lions in #17 Central Missouri with Lacy Stokes going for 31 points, six assists, six rebounds and no turnovers in 38 minutes with a late comeback attempt falling just short and saw the teams 19 game MIAA,13 game home and 11 season opening game winning streaks get snapped with the MIAA streak being the longest in program history and the home and season opening winning streaks being the second longest in program history.
The Missouri Southern women's basketball season is presented by People's Bank of Seneca, a proud supporter of Lion Athletics.
