KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The 10th-seeded Missouri Southern women’s basketball team battled back-and-forth with the 7th-seeded Central Oklahoma Bronchos toward a 68-60 loss in the first round of the MIAA tournament to close out the 2018-19 season inside Municipal Auditorium Wednesday night.
Junior forward Chasidee Owens led the Lions (14-16, 6-13 MIAA) with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field while guard Destiny Cozart added 14 points; both grabbing five rebounds in the process.
Senior Chelsey Henry closed out her colligate career with a nine-point, eight-rebound performance and will leave Southern seventh on the MSSU All-Time scoring list with 1,296 points in a Lions’ uniform.
Sophomore Krista Clark and freshman Layne Skiles each contributed eight points as well.
Clark hit the first 3-pointer of the contest off the inbound pass from Morgan Brightwell and then followed with a layup upon picking up the loose ball and taking it freely into the lane, bringing the Lions within one. Junior forward Chasidee Owens added to the run with her first points of the game to push the Lions toward their first lead of contest (7-6) in the 5:48 mark of the first quarter after trailing the Bronchos (19-11, 9-9 in the early going.
After the Bronchos retook the lead, Brightwell converted on the second free-throw opportunity to tie it up at 8-8. Cozart followed up by launching one from the near wing beyond the arc to extend the lead to three (11-8) and then another long-distance shot by Clark with a defender in her face as the Lions closed out the first quarter up 14-12.
Southern went back-and-forth with the Bronchos throughout the second quarter, but a layup by Cozart became the key factor as MSSU went into halftime holding a one-point advantage.
Out of the break, Owens registered back-to-back baskets to begin the second half followed by four points from Henry as the Lions stretched the lead to five. Owens grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to keep the lead, but the Bronchos answered on a 6-0 run to enter the final quarter of play up 46-41.
At the 7:55 mark of the fourth quarter, the game was tied 50-50 and UCO went on a small run to go up 55-50. Skiles drilled a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to two heading into the final media timeout. MSSU pulled to within one off a 3-pointer by Cozart (57-56), but couldn’t get any closer.
