The Missouri Southern women’s basketball team finished off a season-opening road trip with an 81-65 win over the Lincoln Blue Tigers inside Jason Gymnasium today.
Southern (1-3, 1-3 MIAA) was fueled by sophomore center Madi Stokes’ first double-double of the season, with 15 points after going 6-of-10 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line, while adding 13 rebounds. Amaya Johns had a season-high 14 points going 5-of-8 from the field, connecting on a three-pointer and going 3-of-5 from the free throw line.
Anna Hall posted a new season-high scoring seven going 3-of-3 from the field and connecting on a three. Stocks finished with nine points and grabbed six rebounds while dishing out two assists.
For the Blue Tigers (0-1, 0-1 MIAA) Niyah Jackson finished with 15 points and had five assists. Deija Jackson had 12 points and Aliyah Bello scored 10 points while nabbing a game-high three steals.
In the first quarter, the Lions utilized a 12-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish over Lincoln. Stokes got the run started with a put back layup from a missed shot to tie the game up with 5:48 remaining. Freshman guard Kaitlin Hunnicutt connected on a three-pointer the following possession to get things rolling. Senior guard Brooke Stauffer finished off the scoring in the opening quarter with a free throw to put the Lions up 20-10. Southern finished the quarter limiting the Blue Tigers to shooting 27 percent from the floor.
The second quarter had freshman forward Anna Hall get on the scoreboard first after an assist from a senior center Zoe Campbell, before hitting a three the following possession making the score 25-12. A Hunnicutt free throw with 4:47 remaining in the half pushed the Southern lead to 17 the largest of the half.
At the half, Southern shot 50 percent from the field while limiting the Blue Tigers to 26 percent. The Lions had a 30-16 rebounding advantage while also having a 27-2 lead in bench scoring.
In the third quarter, Southern rode the wave of a 10-0 run started by Stauffer who connected on an open three with 8:13 remaining that was followed up by senior guard Megan Jackson and Stokes layups. Johns capped off the run with a jumper and-one putting the score at 55-33.
Southern stretched the lead out to 23 with 5:52 remaining in the game after a Johns layup that put the score at 75-52.
