On Wednesday night, the Missouri Southern women’s basketball team opened their home season with an 85-62 win over Livin’ the Dream in an exhibition game.

The game was Coach Ronda Hubbard’s first game as the head coach of the Lion’s squad after taking over for former coach Maryann Mitts. Mitts retired from coaching to pursue a career as a professor. Hubbard served as Mitts assistant for 12 years.

Despite the 23-point win, the Lions were visibly still working off some rust, shooting just over 18% from the three-point line. The defense was rather impressive, however, holding Livin’ the Dream to just 33 percent shooting from the field and less than 17 percent from behind the arc.

Junior guard Nicole Hartzog started the scoring for the Lions, draining a three just a minute into the game. Those first three points would put the Lions ahead for good in the game, as they never trailed.

At the half the score was 41-26 in favor of the Lions. The Lions came out from halftime a little stale, allowing Livin’ the Dream to claw their way within eight. With the score at 70-60 in favor of the Lions, they would finally put the opposition away for good going on a 15-2 run to end the game.

Senior forward Dominique Mosley led the way for the Lions contributing 26 points, nine rebounds and two assists to the Lion’s winning cause. Sophomore guard Sharese Jones contributed a double double in the form of 20 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Samantha Soyez provided some spark off the bench, giving the Lions 10 assists.

The Lions will now head to Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks on Sunday afternoon.

This will be the first echibition game of the seaosn for the Razorbacks.