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JOPLIN, Mo. —
The Pittsburg State women are on fire, figuratively speaking, and their hot shooting ways continued Wednesday night during a 88-74 win over the Missouri Southern Lions at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
Despite the fact Pitt State led 38-32 at halftime, it could have been so much better for the Gorillas and so much worse on the Lions had 12 Pitt State turnovers not offset 52.0 percent shooting from the floor (14-27) and 50.0 percent shooting from 3-point range (4-8).
“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord told Eddie Lomshek of KKOW after the game. “We had 12 turnovers. We talked about it and I didn’t think we came out with the energy we needed. But again, to our kids’ credit, they’re a mature team, they’re experienced and they just went on the road. That’s eight in a row on the road (in MIAA play).”
Pitt State committed five turnovers in the first 4:05 of the game and by the point Missouri Southern built a 23-15 lead, the number of turnovers increased to 10. However, the Lions could not stretch their lead out to 10 points and Pitt State jumped back ahead 32-25 on the back of a 17-2 run.
Lord prefers athletic senior forward Brooke Conley to drive first before she begins lauching outside shots and her 12 first-half points came via the drive, mid-range shots and free throws.
Both teams came out gunning in the opening minutes of the second half. Conley scored points No. 13 and 14 on a layup less than 30 seconds in. Erin Rice scored consecutive baskets for Missouri Southern, surrounded by Conley's and Drew Roberts’ baskets. Then, Pitt State went ahead 50-38 on the strength of an Alexa Bordewick 3-pointer, an old-fashioned three-point play by Conley and a layup by Larissa Richards.
With 16:16 remaining, Conley outdid herself with a four-point play — taking a pass from Roberts, Conley drained a 3 and drew a foul on Dysyan Malone. Conley made her free throw and her first three scores in the second half resulted in two points, three points and four points in succession. With that scoring proficiency, no small wonder Conley scored a game-high 25 points.
“Brooke was awesome tonight,” Lord said, “and I thought from the tip-off she was awesome, both offensively and defensively. We’re really trying to challenge her to drive the ball more because she gets fouled when she does because she’s so athletic. I don’t want her to settle for 3s, I want her to drive it and she’s continued to do that. From the opening tip, she was ready to play and she was outstanding once again.”
The Pittsburg State women are on fire, figuratively speaking, and their hot shooting ways continued Wednesday night during a 88-74 win over the Missouri Southern Lions at the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.
Despite the fact Pitt State led 38-32 at halftime, it could have been so much better for the Gorillas and so much worse on the Lions had 12 Pitt State turnovers not offset 52.0 percent shooting from the floor (14-27) and 50.0 percent shooting from 3-point range (4-8).
“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord told Eddie Lomshek of KKOW after the game. “We had 12 turnovers. We talked about it and I didn’t think we came out with the energy we needed. But again, to our kids’ credit, they’re a mature team, they’re experienced and they just went on the road. That’s eight in a row on the road (in MIAA play).”
Pitt State committed five turnovers in the first 4:05 of the game and by the point Missouri Southern built a 23-15 lead, the number of turnovers increased to 10. However, the Lions could not stretch their lead out to 10 points and Pitt State jumped back ahead 32-25 on the back of a 17-2 run.
Lord prefers athletic senior forward Brooke Conley to drive first before she begins lauching outside shots and her 12 first-half points came via the drive, mid-range shots and free throws.
Both teams came out gunning in the opening minutes of the second half. Conley scored points No. 13 and 14 on a layup less than 30 seconds in. Erin Rice scored consecutive baskets for Missouri Southern, surrounded by Conley's and Drew Roberts’ baskets. Then, Pitt State went ahead 50-38 on the strength of an Alexa Bordewick 3-pointer, an old-fashioned three-point play by Conley and a layup by Larissa Richards.
With 16:16 remaining, Conley outdid herself with a four-point play — taking a pass from Roberts, Conley drained a 3 and drew a foul on Dysyan Malone. Conley made her free throw and her first three scores in the second half resulted in two points, three points and four points in succession. With that scoring proficiency, no small wonder Conley scored a game-high 25 points.
“Brooke was awesome tonight,” Lord said, “and I thought from the tip-off she was awesome, both offensively and defensively. We’re really trying to challenge her to drive the ball more because she gets fouled when she does because she’s so athletic. I don’t want her to settle for 3s, I want her to drive it and she’s continued to do that. From the opening tip, she was ready to play and she was outstanding once again.”
Roberts, one of the nation’s best 3-point shooters, joined in on the act with an old-fashioned three-point play and her feat put the Gorillas ahead 59-43.
Pitt State kept its lead in the 13-18 point range most of the second half.
Balance would be the operative word to describe the play of Pitt State.
Starting forward Lizzy Jeronimus scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists. Richards had eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 11 minutes and Lauren Brown seven points, eight rebounds and five blocks in 14 minutes — solid inside production from the Pitt State bench.
“Lauren, I tell you what, she’s coming,” Lord said. “It’s about five games in a row she’s played very well and I don’t know what her stats were tonight, but she blocked a ton of shots. They have her credited for five. I bet she altered another eight. She’s coming.”
Conley added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals to her line.
On the perimeter, Bordewick and Roberts both hit double figures — Bordewick 15 points on 4-8 shooting and Roberts 10 on 4-6.
The Gorillas finished with 88 points for the second consecutive game.
Larrita Gipson led the Lions (7-15, 3-13 MIAA) with 23 points and Rice had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Kelby Fritz reached double figures with 11 points.
Pitt State (21-2, 15-1) established a new record for MIAA wins and can match the most wins in program history (22) Saturday against Lincoln.
“Well, I think they’ve got to stay hungry,” Lord said. “We’ve got to come to practice (Thursday) and get ready for Lincoln. We’re going to get everybody’s best shot and we’ve got four conference games left. Just because you’re in first place by one game, it only takes one bad week and you’re in third.”
The Gorillas won a point for the university in the Sonic Trophy Series competition between Pitt State and Missouri Southern.
Central Missouri upended No. 9 Washburn, taking a 69-68 thriller in Topeka on a Nicole Caddell layup with 4.8 seconds remaining. This loss drops the Lady Blues to 13-2 in the MIAA and ends a 11-game winning streak. The Jennies have won 9 of their last 10 games.
Lincoln (13-8, 7-8) defeated Northwest Missouri 82-67 in Maryville on Wednesday, led by three players with double-doubles in points and rebounds — Vivian Essuon (18 and 10), Arriana Walker (16 and 11) and Dahlia Booker (16 and 10). Freddie Sims added 17 points on five 3-point shots.
No. 10 GORILLAS 88, LIONS 74
PITTSBURG STATE (88) — Brooke Conley 9-17 6-11 25, Lizzy Jeronimus 6-9 8-9 20, Alexa Bordewick 4-8 4-4 15, Drew Roberts 4-6 1-1 10, Larissa Richards 4-9 0-0 8, Lauren Brown 2-3 3-4 7, Morgan Westhoff 1-3 0-0 3, Amanda Orloske 0-2 0-0 0, Courtney Tate 0-0 0-0 0, Britnee Foster 0-0 0-0 0, Lisa Elmer 0-0 0-0 0, Sara Molz 0-0 0-0 0, Brigit Hesser 0-0 0-0 0, Kristina Willis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-57 22-29 88.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN (74) — Larrita Gipson 8-11 4-6 23, Erin Rice 4-9 5-6 13, Kelby Fritz 5-11 0-0 11, Dysyan Malone 2-8 4-5 8, Haley Weathers 2-9 2-2 8, Tatianna Washington 1-7 4-4 6, Shatara Stone 1-6 1-3 3, Michelle Hedgecock 1-5 0-0 2, Nyzera Fleming 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-67 20-26 74.
Halftime — PSU 38, MSSU 32. 3-point goals — PSU 6-16 (Bordewick 3-6, Conley 1-3, Roberts 1-3, Westhoff 1-3, Orloske 0-1), MSSU 6-26 (Gipson 3-4, Weathers 2-8, Fritz 1-5, Rice 0-3, Stone 0-3, Malone 0-2, Washington 0-1). Rebounds — PSU 40 (Brown 8), MSSU 40 (Rice 11). Assists — PSU 14 (Jeronimus, Bordewick 4), MSSU 7 (Fritz 2). Turnovers — PSU 16, MSSU 12. Steals — PSU 4, MSSU 8. Blocked shots — PSU 10 (Brown 5), MSSU 6. Personal fouls — PSU 19, MSSU 20. Fouled out — none.
