FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 17, 2007

Lions tripped up at Northwest Missouri, 62-51

Box Score

Maryville, Mo. - Tynesha Pierce (Houston, Texas) led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-18 shooting, but the Missouri Southern Lions trailed throughout in a 62-51 loss at the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats Saturday afternoon in Maryville, Mo.

For the time being, the loss drops the Lions into eighth place in the MIAA with a 5-11 conference record, while the Bearcats are currently fourth in the conference with a 9-7 mark.

Kelli Nelson hit two three pointers as Northwest jumped out to an early 12-4 lead. Then a pair of free throws by Meghan Brue expanded the lead to double-figures for the Bearcats at 17-6 with 12:40 left in the first half.

The Lions (12-12, 5-11 MIAA) managed to hang around and came within 26-19 after Ela Zawadka (Torun, Poland) hit a three with 5:30 left in the opening half.

Southern trailed the Bearcats 35-29 at the half.

Northwest (16-9, 9-7 MIAA) came out firing on all cylinders and scored the first seven points of the second half and led 42-29 after the Lions failed to score for the first six minutes after halftime.

Pierce kept the Lions within striking distance by hitting consecutive baskets to pull Southern within 42-33.

But the Bearcats proved to be too much for the Lions and built a 17 point advantage on two Lauren Williams free throws and a trey by Katie O'Grady that stretched the Northwest lead to 47-33 with 12:11 left in the contest.

The Bearcats maintained a double-digit lead from that point until an India Wood (Decatur, Ala.) jumper brought the Lions to within nine at 55-46 with 1:40 remaining.

Turnovers once again hurt Southern, as the Lions gave it away 24 times, compared to only 13 turnovers by Northwest.

The Lions did enjoy a huge advantage in the paint, out-scoring the Bearcats 26-12 in the interior.

Southern also had a big edge in rebounds, out-boarding the Bearcats 37-27 overall. The Lions had a 12-8 edge in on the offensive glass and a 25-19 advantage on the defensive boards.

Pierce produced a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Southern. Robin Kantin (Silver Spring, Md.) also reached double-figures with 10.

Brue led a balanced Northwest offensive attack with 14 points, while Williams scored 13 and Mandi Schumacher added 12.

The Lions out-shot the Bearcats 41.2 percent (21-of-51) to 39.6 percent (19-of-48). But the Lions had trouble connecting from long-range, hitting only 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) of their three-point attempts.

The Bearcats made 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) of their shots from beyond the arc.

Missouri Southern will play their final two contests of the 2006-07 regular season at home, beginning with the Del Rio Bordertown battle on Wednesday night (Feb. 21) against Pittsburg State. The Lions will look to sweep the Gorillas for the second straight year after defeating PSU 83-59 earlier this season in Pittsburg, Kan.