Box Score
Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University Bearcats Women's Basketball team continued their winning ways in front of a packed student section at the Meyer Wellness Center defeating the Lions of Missouri Southern 83-78 in MIAA play. The Bearcats improved to 9-9 on the season and 4-7 in conference play with the victory.

The Bearcats went up early to start the game with a Dilonna Johnson jumper, but found themselves down 11-13 at the 14:05 mark of the first half. SBU jumped out into a zone early but the Lions found success in the post against SBU, as they repeatedly went inside to outscore the Bearcats 16-2 in the paint midway through the first half.

The Bearcats found themselves down 23-15 at the 9:11 mark as the Lions stretched the lead to eight. SBU would not fold however, as they rallied around three point threat Brook Duncan who found success deep as she helped bring the Bearcats to within two, 27-29, with 4:36 remaining in the first. It was not all Duncan however as Johnson, Jacqui Zelenka and Alex Botkin all found their rhythm from distance as the Bearcats took a 30-29 lead on a Botkin three at the 4:16 mark. From there Missouri Southern would close out the half by outscoring the Bearcats 8-5 to go into the half with Missouri Southern leading 37-35.

The second half opened up on par with the first as the Bearcats continued to find success from long range early and the Lions continued to pound the ball inside as MSSU was up one at the with 14:41 left in the contest. The Bearcats got a lift from center Morgan Lucy as she connected inside midway through the first half on an assist from Botkin to bring the game to a tie 51-51. The Bearcats took the lead at the 8:30 mark as Johnson capitalized in transition to put the Bearcats up 54-53.

In the back and forth battle, the Bearcats found themselves up 65-64 with 4:05 remaining in the contest. After a two buckets from the Lions, SBU got the crowd going as Botkin banked in three at the 3:38 mark to bring the score to a 68-66 SBU. The game would be tied up 71-71 as clocked ticked below two minutes. Zelenka came up with a big defensive stand as she took a charge and after a series on offense and a stop on defense, she was fouled and hit her free throws to put the Bearcats up 73-71.

The tide would turn forever in the Bearcats favor as Johnson put the game on ice by hitting a deep range three ball as the shot clock expired to put the Bearcats up 76-71 with :50 left in the game. The final score of the game was 83-78, SBU.

Brook Duncan led the way in scoring with 23 points. Also scoring for the Bearcats was Jacqui Zelenka with 14 (to go along with 8 rebounds), Dilonna Johnson 13, Alex Botkin 11, Morgan Lucy 8 and rounding out the scoring for SBU, Sara Magana and Leann Landsown both finished with 7 each. As a team, SBU shot 52.0% from the field, 59.1% from beyond the arc, and 69.2% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will be back in action on Tuesday, February 4 when they travel to Pittsburg State. The game is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. from Pittsburg, Kansas.