Box Score Joplin, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team fell at the hands of Missouri Southern on Wednesday evening 70-56. The Bearcats were within three late in the second half, but couldn't pull out the come-from-behind victory as they fall to 10-13 (5-11 MIAA) on the season.

The Bearcats started the game off with a layup from Morgan Lucy, and held a small advantage for the first 10 minutes of the contest. SBU pushed their lead to a game high 6 (13-7) from another layup from Lucy with 10:35 left in the first half. The Lions responded with a 10-0 run, with the Bearcats and Lions exchanging leads for the remainder of the first half. MSSU ended the half on a 6-1 run as the Bearcats went into the break down 31-24.

In the second half the Bearcats came out quickly, cutting the Lions lead back to two (31-29). However, Southern would responded by pushing their lead to double-digits (42-32) with 16:10 left in the game, before the Bearcats once again fought back to cut the lead back down to three (44-41). The trend would continue over the next ten minutes of the contest, before the Bearcats would once again cut the lead down to three (51-48) with 5:39 to go. Missouri Southern went on another mini-run, pushing their lead to six as SBU was unable to catch back up in the end as they fell 70-56.

Brook Duncan led the SBU offensive attack with a team high 18 points, while Jacqui Zelenka had 16 points and 5 rebounds. Dilonna Johnson added 10 points while Morgan Lucy had 8 points. As a team SBU shot 42.6% from the field, 18.2% from beyond the arc, and 73.7% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will return home on Saturday, February 22 when they host #12 Central Missouri. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.