Western women lose at Southwest Baptist and fail to qualify for MIAA Tourney

The Missouri Western women’s basketball team went scoreless for six and a half minutes in the second half falling 62-57 against the Southwest Baptist Bearcats. With the loss the Griffons season ends at 10-16 overall and 5-14 in MIAA play. Senior guard JaQuitta Dever went out on a high not scoring 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting including 6-of-9 from the free throw line.

The first half was played very close with the largest lead coming at the 3:35 mark of the first half when SBU took a 25-19 lead after two Sarah Magana free throws. The Griffons came right back scoring the next five points cutting the lead to 25-24 after an Alexis Gray layup. The Bearcats were able to outscore the Griffons by four the rest of the frame taking the 31-26 lead as Magana hit a jumper as time expired in the half.

In the half the Griffons made 10-of-25 field goals with Dever and Tiffanie Abrams leading the way with seven points apiece. The Bearcats made 11-of-25 field goals with Jacquie Zelenka leading the way with eight points making all four of her field goals.

Things looked good for the Griffons early in the second half tying the score at 31 after Kyrsten Crawford nailed a three with 19:12 to play in the game. From there the Griffons went cold scoring just six points the next 13 minutes of the game. On the other hand the Bearcats scored 11 points taking a 47-36 lead with 6:30 to play.

The Griffons continued to battle and with 32 second to play they cut the Bearcats lead to 59-55 after a Dever layup. The Bearcats hit three of its final four free throws putting the game out of reach. With the victory the Bearcats improve to 11-15 overall and 6-13 in MIAA play. They also earn a spot in next weeks MIAA Tournament.

The Griffons finished making 21-of-55 field goals and 12-of-19 free throws. They turned the ball over 19 times and had 10 steals.

The Bearcats made 18-of-44 field goals and 22-of-32 free throw attempts. They were led by Lissette Plasencis with 16 points while Zelenka and Brooke Duncan finished with 13 and 12 respectively.

— MWSU Sports Information —