Kansas City, Mo. – The Missouri Southern women's basketball program advanced to the MIAA Championship game after coming-from-behind to defeat Missouri Western 65-58 at Municipal Auditorium this afternoon in a game that saw ten lead changes and five ties.
 
The Lions (24-5, 19-3 MIAA) were led by Lacy Stokes with 32 points, the second-most points scored by a Lion in an MIAA Tournament game, just shy of Jasmine Lovejoy's 2011 performance against Pittsburg State in the quarterfinals. Layne Skiles was a hot hand with 13 points connecting on three three's to move into tenth in career makes from behind the arc with 125 now in her career to pass Nicole Greninger (2002-06).
 
Brooke Stauffer added six points while Cameron Call and Amaya Johns both had five points off the bench. Skiles also had a game-high four steals while Lacy Stokes and Stauffer added three steals of their own.
 
Missouri Western (21-9, 14-8 MIAA) was led by Corbyn Cunningham with eight points while grabbing six rebounds, Connie Clarke added six points and seven rebounds. Jordan Cunningham had a team-high nine rebounds and three from the bench scored eight points (Jaelyn Haggard, Alyssa Bonilla and Mary Fultz).
 
In the first quarter Skiles got the party started with a three that was assisted by Kaitlin Hunnicutt before a Madi Stokes' jumper in the paint that was also assisted by Hunnicutt made it 5-2 with 9:01 left in the first quarter. The Lions had three separate four point leads in the next four minutes before the Griffons tied it up 12-12 with 2:18 left in the quarter. 
 
Missouri Western took its first lead of the game with 1:42 left in the first quarter following a pair of Clarke free throws before back-to-back jumpers in the paint by Lacy Stokes put the Lions ahead 16-14 with 36 seconds left. Mary Fultz nailed a three after subbing on with seven seconds left, but Lacy had too much time on the clock as she sank a three before the quarter buzzer sounded for a 19-17 Lion lead heading to the second quarter.
 
Just like the first quarter, Skiles came out firing, sinking her first three attempt of the quarter with Lacy Stokes picking up the assist, the Griffons used a 6-0 run to have a 23-22 advantage with 7:17 remaining in the first half. Lacy Stokes responded with a jumper in the paint before Western reclaimed the lead on the following possession but not to be outdone Lacy had a steal and score with 6:07 left on the clock to put the Lions ahead 26-25. 
 
The two teams traded the lead three times in the following minutes before Western exploded for a 12-3 run to take control of the half 43-33 with 1:45 for the first double digit lead of the game. The Lions went into halftime down 43-35 after Lacy Stokes nailed a jumper in the paint with a little over a minute left. This was the seventh game this season where the Lions went into the intermission down.
 
Southern scored on its first possession of the third quarter with Madi Stokes converting a layup with Brooke Stauffer getting the assist, but the Griffons created an 11 point lead (48-37) with 6:58 left in the quarter. The Lions turned to Stauffer for a response, and she delivered, hitting  a three with Skiles picking up the assist to cut the lead to eight 48-40 with 6:32 left.
 
What followed that three by Stauffer was a complete shutdown of the Griffons' offense as the Lions forced six turnovers and the Griffons went 1-5 from the field and 0-2 from the free throw line in the final 6:30, allowing the Lions to tie it 48-48 with 37 seconds left after a Lacy Stokes jumper in the paint. Western went into the fourth quarter up 50-48 but had no rhyme on offense and the Lions had figured out the defensive game plan. Coming into tonight's game the Lions under Ronnie Ressel were 5-74 when trailing after the third quarter with a 2-3 record this season.
 
The fourth quarter by the Lions showed the resolve of champions to battle back from being down 11 midway in the third quarter to taking a 53-50 lead with 7:23 left in regulation following a Lacy Stokes' three. Southern never relinquished the lead for the rest of the night with the Griffons getting to two 56-54 with 4:38 but no closer. 
 
Lacy Stokes nailed her third three of the night with 4:20 left in response to the Griffons getting close and then both teams went on a barren run for almost four minutes with the Griffons scoring next with 38 seconds left with a pair of free throws making it 59-56. Layne Skiles sank a pair of free throws with 36 seconds left before Lacy Stokes put the finishing touches on a historic performance by going 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the last 30 seconds. 
 
This was the second time this season the Lions had come back from a halftime deficit and win, the third time this season and sixth time under coach Ressel to comeback after trailing in the third quarter.
 
As a team the Lions held the advantage in threes made (8-5), free throws made (11-9), steals (13-4), points off turnovers (23-6), and forced the Griffons into 26 turnovers while only committing eight. 
 
The win snaped a four-game MIAA Tournament skid by the Lions against Missouri Western and is their first win in Kansas City in series history. With the win, the Lions advance to their fourth appearance in the MIAA Tournament Championship game with appearances in 1993, 1994 and 1996 winning the title in the latter two years.
 
Up next for the Lions will be Fort Hays State. The Tigers halted Nebraska-Kearney this evening with a 56-46 win to advance to their second straight MIAA Tournament Championship game. Tip off from Municipal Auditorium is set for 1:00pm Sunday.