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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wood's Career High
Leads Lions over SBU, 77-69 Bolivar, Mo. - Senior guard India Wood scored a career-high 32 points and the Missouri Southern Lions won 77-69 tonight against Southwest Baptist at the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar. Southern (8-2, 2-1 MIAA) started the game with a two-point advantage before the opening tip as a scorebook error for SBU led to a technical foul and India Wood drained both free throws to start the game. The Lions led by six (12-6) at the 15 minute mark on a jumper from Michelle Hedgecock and built their lead to 10 (21-11) on another bucket from Hedgecock. Southern's largest lead of the half was 11 (42-31) with just under two minutes to go on a layup from India Wood. SBU (3-7, 0-3 MIAA) shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but just 17 percent (1-6) from long range. The Bearcats were led by 12 points from Courtney Reed in the half. The Lions pushed their lead to the largest of the night at 19 (55-36) on a layup from Randi Henderson with 16 minutes left to go in the half. From that point, however, the Bearcats went on a 22-5 run and cut the Lions' lead to just two at 60-58 with eight minutes to go, forcing a Southern timeout. The Lions' lead was in double-digits again at ten (69-59) with 2:43 to go after a jumper from Lindsey Davis and the Lions would make the lead hold. Wood led all scorers with a career-high 32 points, going 8-13 from the field, 5-9 from long range and 11-12 from the free throw line. DeVader scored 12 with a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. The Lions hit 21 of 22 free-throws on the night and shot 49 percent from the field. SBU was led by 25 points from Reed and shot 46 percent from the field as a team. Southern will be back in action this Wednesday afternoon with a 1 pm start against Missouri Western on New Year's Eve. |