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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lions tripped up at
Southwest Baptist, 80-75 Bolivar, Mo. - Senior Dana-Mae Robbs (Lecompton, Kan.) returned from a two-game absence with a broken hand to tie her season-high of 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, but it wasn't enough as the Missouri Southern Lions dropped their fourth straight, 80-75 to the Southwest Baptist Lady Bearcats Monday night (Jan. 22) in a make-up game of a scheduled Jan. 13 contest that was postponed due to a winter storm. The Lions had a chance late when Robbs hit a layup on an assist from Robin Kantin (Silver Spring, Md.) that pulled Southern to within three at 78-75 with 52 seconds left and the Lady Bearcats missed three of their next four free throws to allow the Lions to hang within four at 79-75. But the Lions failed to take advantage as three-point attempts from Kantin and Ela Zawadka were off the mark in the final 15 seconds of the contest. The first half was a back-and-forth affair as the Lady Bearcats jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, only to have the Lions score the next nine points that saw four different Lions find the scoreboard during that span. SBU responded with a 7-0 spurt of their own and led 14-11 after a layup from Rachel Graves with 12:09 left in the first half. The remainder of the opening half saw seven ties and with the Lady Bearcats leading 34-33, Cortney Shewmaker nailed a trey as the first half ended to give SBU a 37-33 advantage at the half. SBU extended the lead to seven at 43-36 early in the second half on the strength of two buckets from Livia Brito, but the Lions responded with a 10-3 spurt and tied it at 46-46 after Robbs split a pair at the free throw line with 13:32 left. The Lady Bearcats gained their biggest lead of the night with an 8-0 run that featured a three-pointer from Shewmaker to lead 65-56 with 8:16 left after the Lions had cut the SBU lead down to just one. SBU would lead by nine once more before the Lions began their late rally that fell just short. Besides Robbs' 23-point output, Kantin also reached double-figures for the Lions with 19 points to go along with a game-high 10 rebounds. The Lady Bearcats placed four players in double-figures, led by Brito's game-high of 25 and team-high seven boards. Shewmaker wound up with 13, while Courtney Creed and Amber Wheeler scored 10 points each. Southern shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55) in the contest, but only 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from three-point range. SBU shot a solid 53.7 percent (29-of-54) overall and a respectable 40 percent (6-of-15) from long-distance. After being out-rebounded for only the second time all season against Fort Hays State on Saturday night (Jan. 20), the Lions regained their rebounding prowess by out-boarding the Lady Bearcats 35-28 and 13-6 on the offensive glass. Turnovers plagued the Lions in the first half, as Southern committed 14 before halftime. But the Lions took much better care of the basketball in the second half, recording only four giveaways. The Lions next will entertain the No. 2-ranked Washburn Lady Blues on Wednesday night (Jan. 24) at 5:30 p.m. at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. The Lady Blues swept the season series last year against Southern by winning 70-45 in Joplin and hanging on for a 66-64 overtime win in Topeka, Kan.
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