Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team outscored Missouri Southern 42-22 in the paint en route to a 65-52 victory. After the win, the Bearcats improve to 14-11 (9-10 MIAA) on the season.

Missouri Southern came out of the gate red-hot from the field, shooting 80% from the field over the first seven minutes of the contest, as SBU found themselves down 12-3 with 5:58 left in the quarter. However, the Bearcats started to turn things around and a jumper from Megan Rosenbohm, a three from Ashlee Pitts, and back-to-back layups from Caylee Richardson tied the game at 12-12 with 2:13 remaining in the quarter. SBU took their first lead of the game on another Richardson layup, and after a bucket from MSSU, Richardson connected on a free throw to give the Bearcats a 15-14 lead after the first quarter of play.

SBU came out in the second quarter and pushed their lead to five (19-14) on a layup from Rosenbohm followed by a jumper from Leann Terrill. After a Southern three, SBU responded with an 8-0 run to lead 25-17 with 2:05 left in the half. The Bearcats would end up taking a 27-20 lead into the break, finishing the half on a 24-8 run spanning across a quarter and a half of play.

In the third quarter the Bearcats once again came out ready to score, using layups from Mackenzie Skupa, Richardson, and Dilonna Johnson to push their lead to 13 (33-20) with 8:02 left in the third. MSSU got three points back, back-to-back layups from Skupa coupled with a Johnson three pushed the Bearcat lead to 17 (40-23) with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter. Southern would cut the lead to 11 (40-29) with 2:35 to go, but the Bearcats would hold constant for the remainder of the quarter and take a 47-35 lead into the fourth.
Once again SBU came out of the break scoring, using layups from Skupa and Richardson to push their lead back to 16 (51-35) with 8:56 to go. A steal and layup from Sarah Magana with 5:45 remaining gave SBU their largest lead of the game at 19 (58-39), as the Bearcats would cruise to the 65-52 victory.

Dilonna Johnson scored a game high 17 points to lead the Bearcats, while Caylee Richardson had 16 points on a perfect 7-7 from the floor. Mackenzie Skupa gave SBU 13 points and 9 rebounds, while Sarah Magana added 7 assists and 4 steals in the win. As a team SBU shot 55.1% from the field, 22.2% from beyond the arc, and 63.6% from the free throw line.

The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, February 20 when they host #19 Pittsburg State. Senior day is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.