FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 28, 2009

Wood's 25 leads Lions over Central Missouri, 72-65

Box Score

Warrensburg, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Lions moved into a four-way tie for second place in the MIAA by defeating the Central Missouri Jennies 72-65 Wednesday evening (Jan. 28) in Warrensburg, Mo for their sixth straight victory. The six-game winning streak in the MIAA represents the Lions' largest since winning seven straight during the 2003-04 season.

The matchup also had regional implications, as the Jennies entered as the No. 6-ranked squad in the South Central Region, while the Lions came in seventh in the region.

The Lions led most of the way and Michelle Hedgecock scored to make it 39-31 with 16:47 remaining. The Jennies then took their first lead since 8-7 early in the first half as Katy Davenport and Deidra Dace combined to score the next nine points to put Central ahead 40-39 at the 13:34 mark of the second half.

That was the beginning of a see-saw affair that saw four ties over the next six minutes. The score was tied at 45-45 when Myosha Barnes scored four points of a 6-0 Lions spurt to put Southern up 51-45.

The Jennies quickly answered with an 8-2 run to even things once again at 53-53 with 5:26 left.

Danielle DeVader then gave the Lions the lead for good with a three and Barnes followed that with a jumper at the 4:08 mark to give the Lions a 58-53 lead.

After Davenport split a pair of free throws, India Wood and Jolea Apon each nailed treys sandwiched around a layup by Dace that gave the Lions a commanding 64-56 advantage with just 2:39 left.

The Jennies cut the lead to five twice more, but the Lions put the game away by going 8-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch.

Southern (15-4, 9-3 MIAA) trailed in the early going of the first half by one when Wood scored eight points over the next three minutes to key a 13-2 run that gave the Lions a double-digit lead of 20-10 with 12:03 left in the opening half.

DeVader later hit two free throws to give the Lions their biggest lead of the night at 29-18, but Dominica Blakemore scored five points to help the Jennies close out the first half on a 7-0 run to trim the Lions lead to 29-25 at the half.

Wood led the Lions with a game-high 25 points, including hitting five from beyond the arc and making all eight of her free-throw attempts. Nichole Helfrich scored 11 and Barnes added 10. Randi Henderson dished out a team-high five assists, while DeVader and Hedgecock each pulled down a team-best six rebounds.

Davenport paced the Jennies (14-5, 9-3 MIAA) with 17 points and Dace scored 16 and had a game-high 13 boards.

The Lions' defensive effort was particularly stingy at the three-point line, as they limited the Jennies to only 25 percent (5-of-20) shooting from beyond the arc.

The Lions will now return home to host the Southwest Baptist Bearcats on Saturday evening (Jan. 31) at 5:30 p.m. at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. The Lions defeated SBU 77-69 earlier this season (Dec. 29) in Bolivar, Mo.