Missouri Western senior forward Jessica Koch from Kansas City, Mo. became Missouri Western’s all-time leading scorer on a free throw with 2:29 to play in an 86-69 victory over Southwest Baptist. Koch has 1,751 career points which is one better than previous record holder Lisa Hughes. With the victory the Griffons make the MIAA tournament on Thursday, March 1st against Washburn at 12:00 pm in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Last season Western fell 58-55 in the first round of the tournament.
Fighting for a post season spot in the MIAA tournament the Griffons came out on fire shooting 64.3-percent (18-28) from the field in the opening frame. They sank 9-of-14 long range shots with senior Brittany Casady connecting on four three’s for 14 points in the half.
Senior’s Ashleigh Curry and Koch dumped in 16 and 11 points respectively for Western.
The first half was never close as the Griffons jumped out to a 20-9 lead at the 12:35 mark of the first half after two Abby Stone free throws. Western continued the pressure outscoring the Bearcats 32-19 the rest of the way taking a 52-28 halftime lead. The 52 points is the highest point total in a half for Western this season.
Western outscored the Bearcats 16-8 in the paint and scored 12 points off 12 SBU turnovers. SBU shot just 34.4-percent (11-32) from the field as LaKendra Smith led the way with 11 points.
The Bearcats opened up the second half scoring the first nine points cutting the Griffon lead to 54-39 with 16:43 to play.
The Griffons remained calm pushing their lead to 20 once again after Koch’s lay-up with 12:27 to play. The Bearcats could not get any closer than 15 the rest of the game as the Griffons held a 27 point lead at 72-45.
The Griffons finished outscoring the Bearcats 30-22 in the paint and had 20 points off 20 Bearcat turnovers. Casady finished with a career high 18 points while Koch and Curry finished with 24 and 20 respectively. Western improves to 7-19 overall and 5-15 in MIAA play.
The Bearcats were led by Smith wih 21 points while Brittney Dukes dumped in 17. The Bearcats end its season 9-17 overall and 4-16 in MIAA play.
— MWSU Sports Information —