Southwest Baptist beats Lions, 69-62

Box Score

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Missouri Southern saw its five-game winning streak over Soutwest Baptist come to an end as the Lady Bearcats defeated the Lions 69-62 Tuesday night (Jan. 24) in Bolivar, Mo.

The loss is the Lions' second straight and drops their record to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in the MIAA. The Bearcats snapped their six-game conference losing streak and improved to 10-9 overall and 2-6 in league action.

Senior Nicole Greninger (Webb City, Mo.) hit a three-pointer to briefly to put the Lions on top 46-44 with 13:15 remaining, but SBU outscored Southern 16-6 over the next six minutes to take a commanding 60-52 lead with 6:57 left, capped by a trey from Cortney Shewmaker.

The Lions got to within six on a pair of free throws from Greninger with 4:05 left, but SBU's Livia Brito also nailed a pair of free throws and Casey Beavers made good on a three-pointer to push the Lady Bearcat lead back to 11 at 65-54 with just 1:51 remaining.

Things did not start promising for Southern in the first half, as SBU quickly jumped out to a 16-7 lead just a little more than six minutes into the contest, with Shewmaker scoring the first nine points of the game for the Lady Bearcats.

Southern battled back in the first half though as freshman Meghan Welch (Goddard, Kan.) scored the last five points of the half to pull the Lions to within 31-29 at halftime.

Senior Dacie Reutlinger (Owasso, Okla.) led the Lions with 15 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Robin Kantin (Silver Spring, Md.) notched her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Welch scored 16 and connected on 4-of-7 three-point attempts.

Shewmaker paced the Lady Bearcats with 20 points, with Brito scoring 12 and pulling down a game-high 13 rebounds. Beavers also reached double-figures for SBU with 18 points, going 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.

The Lions will look to snap their two-game losing streak by hosting Missouri Western Saturday night (Jan. 28) at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. Southern will try to avenge an earlier loss to the Griffons this season, 63-60 on Dec. 30 in St. Joseph, Mo.