PSU women catch fire from deep

After Pittsburg State lost its Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association opener Thursday night against Central Oklahoma, head coach Lane Lord talked about how the 3-point shots were not going in early on this season like they did most of last season.

The Gorillas were shooting 29.3 percent (36-123) from long range through seven games.

Well, the 3-pointers started going in for Pitt State against Lindenwood on Saturday and no better time with Drew Roberts felled by a first half injury and Lizzy Jeronimus and Kylie Gafford in foul trouble.

Hailey Roderique buried her first 3 of the season at the first half buzzer, giving Pitt State a 37-25 lead en route to a 82-65 win at Robert F. Hyland Arena. The Gorillas finished with 11 3-pointers, eight
in the first half, and shot 40.7 percent.

“This was the biggest team effort we’ve had so far this year,” Lord told Eddie Lomshek of KKOW. “With our group, we knew it was going to take some time but we’re still not there yet. Just to see them smiling, having fun, making shots, it was neat to see today.”

Morgan Westhoff came in for Roberts after she landed badly on her right ankle 2 minutes into the game and the St. Paul native promptly delivered 13 first half points on the strength of three straight 3-pointers. She took advantage of a zone defense favored by Lindenwood to negate the inside presence of Jeronimus, Brown and Gafford.

“It was kind of neat today because Lizzy doesn’t score a point in the first half and Drew goes down with an injury so here we are, we’ve got to have somebody step up and make some shots,” Lord said. “They were just packing it in on us and how about Morgan Westhoff? She was just outstanding and she lifted our spirits and got our kids going.”
As Lord said, Jeronimus went scoreless in the first half and missed her first seven shots before she hit a 3-pointer and on the next possession, she found Roderique for a layup and 42-25 lead with 18:45 remaining.

It was bad news for Lindenwood as Jeronimus began heating up and her 3-pointer at the 15:29 mark gave Pitt State a 52-33 advantage, its biggest lead of the game.

However, Jeronimus picked up her fourth personal at 8:31 and Lindenwood chipped the lead to 62-56 on a basket from Emily Alfrey. Lord brought Jeronimus back in at 7:14 and the Gorillas were able to extend their lead back into double-digits. Unlike its loss to Central Oklahoma, Pitt State finished down the stretch.

The sophomore class of Jeronimus, Roderique and Westhoff flexed its muscles against Lindenwood.

Jeronimus finished with 20 points, three assists and one steal. Westhoff scored 13 of the first 16 PSU points and ended with 15. Roderique scored a career-high 13 points and had a career-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double; she helped ice Lindenwood with four straight free throws. After the game, Lord called Roderique probably the toughest kid he’s ever coached.

Five players ended in double figures, as redshirt sophomore guard Brigit Hesser scored a career-high 11 and Alexa Bordewick added 10. Hesser and Bordewick each dished out four assists.

“It’s neat to see Brigit have an opportunity,” Lord said. “We’ve been giving her 10-15 minutes a game and for her to come in and do what she did tonight was just outstanding.”

Senior post Lauren Brown played a career-high 27 minutes and finished with six points, 15 rebounds and two blocked shots.
“We were awesome on the boards,” Lord said. “Look at our offensive rebounds (15-7 in favor of PSU). I’m really proud of Lauren. She didn’t score a ton today but 15 rebounds, we’ll take that from Lauren Brown every night. . . . She was outstanding for us.”

Pitt State (6-2, 1-1 MIAA) will have a second extended lull in the schedule, finals and graduation taking place before the Gorillas play the Academy of Art-San Francisco and Dixie State in the Las Vegas Challenge (Dec. 18-19). Pitt State had nearly two weeks between the Pitt State Tipoff Classic and the Missouri Southern Thanksgiving
Classic. Lindenwood drops to 1-6 and 0-2.


No. 11 GORILLAS 82, LIONS 65

PITTSBURG STATE (82) — Lizzy Jeronimus 6-15 6-8 20, Morgan Westhoff 5-10 2-2 15, Hailey Roderique 4-10 4-4 13, Brigit Hesser 3-8 3-3 11, Alexa Bordewick 3-10 2-2 10, Lauren Brown 2-5 2-4 6, Cathy Brugman 1-2 2-2 5, Kristina Willis 1-1 0-0 2, Drew Roberts 0-1 0-0 0, Y’Cedria Devers 0-1 0-0 0, Kylie Gafford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 25-64 21-25 82.

LINDENWOOD (65) — Sarah Schnieders 6-9 4-7 17, Julie Hlinak 4-8 0-0 11, Jordynn Martin 4-10 2-5 10, Caroline Bourlioux 3-7 3-3 9, Tori Kuhn 3-13 2-2 8, Emily Alfrey 2-3 0-1 4, Meagan Hittle 1-5 0-0 2, Katie Brown 1-2 0-0 2, Jenny Rocha 0-2 2-2 2, Sonya Milford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-60 13-20 65.
Halftime — PSU 40, LWU 25. 3-point goals — PSU 11-27 (Westhoff 3-4, Jeronimus 2-5, Hesser 2-5, Bordewick 2-6, Brugman 1-2, Roderique 1-4, Roberts 0-1), LWU 4-13 (Hlinak 3-6, Schnieders 1-2, Hittle 0-3, Martin 0-2). Rebounds — PSU 49 (Brown 15), LWU 32 (Kuhn 7). Assists — PSU 17 (Hesser, Bordewick 4), LWU 15 (Kuhn 6). Turnovers — PSU 17, LWU 16. Steals — PSU 3, LWU 6 (Hlinak 2). Blocked shots — PSU 5 (Gafford 3), LWU 4 (Bourlioux 2). Personal fouls — PSU 19, LWU 21. Technical fouls — none. Fouled out — Bourlioux, LWU.