Joplin, Mo. - The 18th ranked Missouri Southern women's basketball team is set for its fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history where they will face off with NSIC foe Augustana in the first round. This will be the first meeting between the two schools and marks the second year in a row that the Lions will begin the NCAA Tournament against a NSIC program. Tip off from Romano Gymnasium is set for 12:00pm on Friday Mar. 10th in Duluth, Minn and will feature live stats, radio play-by-play and a free live stream that can be found in the live coverage link.

Game Information
Date: Friday, Mar. 10th
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Duluth, Minn.
Site: Romano Gymnasium
Teams: #18/RV Missouri Southern (27-6, 16-6 MIAA) vs. (RV) Augustan (25-5, 17-4)
Series History: First ever meeting

Coaches
MSSU: Ronnie Ressel, 107-95 (7th Season at MSSU / Overall) 
AU: Dave Krauth, 695-301(34th Season at AU / Overall)

Media Coverage
Radio: Mike McClure - Play by play - 101-7 the Vault - 101.7 FM
Video/Stats: https://www.mssulions.com/coverage
Facebook: facebook.com/mososports
Twitter: @mososports; @MssuWbb

MIAA Tournament Was Green & Gold
This year the Lions captured the programs third MIAA Tournament championships in convincing fashion averaging 72.0 points per game while shooting 42.7 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three and 82.9 percent from free throws and holding opponents to an average of 58.3 points per game while shooting 36.6 percent from the field, 25.4 percent from three and 65.0 percent from free throws. Individually the Lions were led by Tournament MVP Lacy Stokes who averaged 20.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.0 steals a game while having a 16.00 assist-turnover ratio in 102 minutes played. Layne Skiles and Amaya Johns were also named to the All-Tournament team with Skiles averaged 10.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.0 blocks and 0.7 steals a game and shot 38.5 percent from three, Johns averaged 9.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals a game off the bench while shooting 40.0 percent from three. Other significant contributors were Madi Stokes who averaged 11.0 rebounds, 6.7 points and 2.0 blocks a game, Kryslyn Jones who averaged 9.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.0 assist and 0.7 steals a game, Kaitlin Hunnicutt averaged 7.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 62.5 percent from three and Mia Topping who averaged 5.0 points, 2.0 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Lions In NCAA Tournament
Historically the Lions are 3-4 in NCAA Tournament action, 1-1 in first round games, 2-1 in semifinals and 0-2 in regional championship games. The 1993 and 94 teams made it to the championship game where they played MIAA foes Washburn and Missouri Western with both serving as hosts of the tournament in their respective years. This will be the second time in program history to have back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances with the first time being the aforementioned 93 & 94 appearances. 

The All-MIAA Court 
This season the Lions had four named All-MIAA in Lacy Stokes, Madi Stokes, Krylsyn Jones and Layne Skiles. Lacy was a repeat first-teamer and All-Defensive selection as Madi earned her third All-MIAA and All-Defensive honors of her career. Jones and Skiles were first time honorees for All-MIAA. Lacy leads the team in scoring, free throws made, assists, assist-turnover ratio and steals. Madi leads the team in rebounds and blocks, Jones leads the team in threes made and three point percentage and Skiles ranks in the top-three in the team for field goal percentage, three point percentage, threes made, free throw percentage, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

Wins Stacking Up
This season the team has tied a program record for wins in a season with the 1992-93 season also accomplishing 27 wins and has set a new single-season neutral site wins record with six as the record was four set in the 1985-86 & 92-93 seasons. 

Team Records Broken So Far
As a team the Lions have broken eight school records this season, beginning with three pointers made and attempted going 252-for-762, blocks with 153, defensive rebounds with 915 (Since 1985-86) and since the women's game has used quarters beginning in the 2015-16 season this year the Lions have scored the most points in the first, second, third and fourth quarters at 603, 543, 613 and 590 this season. 

The Missouri Southern women's basketball season is presented by People's Bank of Seneca, a proud supporter of Lion Athletics.