FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 2, 2008

Lions take down Truman in OT, 77-71

Box Score

Joplin, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern Lions out-scored the Truman Bulldogs 10-4 in the extra period to defeat the Truman Bulldogs 77-71 in overtime Saturday afternoon (Feb. 2) at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

The victory is the Lions' sixth in seven games in the MIAA and puts them at 15-4 overall and 6-4 in the conference.  The Bulldogs fall to 13-6 overall and 5-5 in the MIAA.

Senior India Wood continued her stellar play MIAA games by hitting the go-ahead three-pointer with 2:10 left in the overtime period to put the Lions ahead for good 73-71.

After the Lions forced the Bulldogs into consecutive misses and a turnover, Danielle DeVader and Ela Zawadka each hit a pair of free throws to close out the win.

Things appeared difficult for the Lions late in regulation after Georgia Mueller hit two from the charity stripe to give the Bulldogs a 67-64 advantage with 2:00 remaining in the second half.  But DeVader hit a huge trey that tied the score with 59 seconds left for the final points of regulation.

The Lions trailed 32-27 at the half but Tynesha Pierce scored eight points to spark a 15-5 second-half opening run that put the Lions up 42-37 with 14:23 remaining.

Truman answered with a 10-2 run capped off by a three from Carmen McGee that put the Bulldogs up 47-44.

Southern continued the back-and-forth spurts and took a 55-49 lead as DeVader knocked in a pair of threes to lead an 11-2 Lion run over a span of 2:57.

The Bulldogs led throughout the first half and jumped out to a 12-4 early advantage on a layup from Mueller.

Katie Fowler hit two free throws to give Truman their biggest lead of the half at 21-8 with 10:07 left in the first half. 

The Lions trailed 26-14 before out-scoring the Bulldogs 13-6 over the final 6:07 of the opening half to cut the lead to five.

Wood was the Lions' high-scorer in an MIAA win for the fourth time already, scoring 17 and dishing out a team-high five assists.  Pierce scored 12 and DeVader had 11 including tying for the team-lead with nine rebounds.  Zawadka scored 10 and also had nine boards.

Mueller paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 29 points and led Truman with eight rebounds.  Fowler also scored in double-figures with 10.

The Lions will continue their three-game homestand with an important matchup with the current No. 12-ranked Washburn Lady Blues.  Southern got the best of the Lady Blues last Wednesday (Jan. 30) 69-61 for their first win in Topeka, Kan. since 1995. 

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