Despite school cancellations due to 10 inches of snow, Lady Lions basketball played on in its last home game of the season.

The women invited the Lady Miners of University of Missouri-Rolla to a rematch on Lion turf Feb. 26.

Fans saw a 69-53 Lady Lion victory giving the women a 15-13 stand for the season. Freshman guard Nicole Greninger stepped out on court with the fans cheering in approval.

“I was really excited,” Greninger said.

“I saw that we were struggling, and I wanted to please the coaches.”

The coaches were more than pleased with the performance.

“I’ve never been more proud of a group of ladies,” said Maryann Mitts, head women’s basketball coach.

Senior guard Jacquie Rzezsut held the scoring high of 12 points for the game.

This was the last home game performance for this year’s senior players.

“I’m going to miss the seniors a lot,” Greninger said. “Jacquie Rzezsut is an awesome player, and Jaime Green has been so positive to me.”

On Feb. 22, the Lady Lions welcomed Truman State University’s Lady Bulldogs to Joplin. The Lady Lions held a victory over the Lady Bulldogs earlier this season when they played at Truman.

The women’s theory that they cannot lose at home didn’t prove itself on Feb. 22 as Truman took the game from Southern.

Southern lost the game 66-61 with Truman leading in both halves. With 2:46 left in the game, the Lady Lions were lacking only two points but could not pull through.

Katie Deen held the game highs, scoring 12 points for Southern, and Rzezsut managed five assists.

Freshman guard Carol Koenig fouled out of the game without scoring any points.

With one away game before conference left in the season, the Lady Lions look to their second game against Washburn, Kan., on Saturday.

Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. at Washburn.

“I think that it will take all of us,” Greninger said. “I think we are going to show them that we are there to win the game and to give it all we’ve got.”