This afternoon, Missouri Southern’s women basketball team played their home opener against the Southwest Oklahoma Lady Bulldogs. The Lions won the contest easily, pulling away in the second half for a 99–83 win.

The Lions started off shooting well and kept the momentum going throughout the game. Sophomore guard Sharese Jones hit a couple of deep threes to put the Lions up 6-4 early. Despite Bulldog runs to tie the score at 20 and 27, the Lions would never give up the lead, going into halftime with a 42-35 lead.

The stories of the first half were the Lion’s ability to distribute the ball and strong defensive play. The Lions recorded 11 assists while the Lady Bulldogs failed to register a single one. The Lions played good defense, holding the Lady Bulldogs to just 31 percent shooting in the first half. The Lions shot a solid 50 percent through the first 20 minutes.

Unfortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, the Lions were just getting warmed up. They came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. Jones kept her torrid pace going, scoring ten points in the first six minutes of the second; she would finish the game with 29 points and 15 rebounds. Senior Forward Dominique Mosley wasn’t far behind her, putting up 27 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks.

The Lions led by as much as 25 on the afternoon, as the high percentage shooting and pesky defense proved to be too much for the Lady Bulldogs to handle. The one negative for the Lions on the afternoon was their inability to take care of the ball, turning it over 27 times on the afternoon. The Lions will enjoy back to back home games on November 22 and 23 before traveling to Northwest Oklahoma.