The Missouri Southern women’s basketball team is having anything but a smooth season this year, with a below .500 conference and overall record, but the Lions are looking to finish the season strong.

“Well, obviously it has been a frustrating season, with the injuries that have occurred and trying to blend a very young and inexperienced team, we have had our share of difficulties.

“But I have been very pleased with our players’ tenacity and energy during this season. They came into practice this week with the most energy and communication we have seen all year.  They continue to be very excited to play come game day,” Head Coach Maryann Mitts said.

The Lions are coming off of a tough road loss to conference foe Truman State on Jan. 21, game in which the Lions fell down early but battled back hard only to suffer another loss at the hands of the Bulldogs.

Heading into the second half, the Lions were within 10 points, but Truman would use a 14-0 run in five minutes to boost their lead up to 21 points and cruise to a victory.

Junior forward Erin Rice led the team in scoring with 14 points while pulling down six rebounds.

Senior guard Larrita Gipson contributed with 10 points while dishing out three assists and bringing down four rebounds.

Mitts mentioned that one big factor that contributed to the loss was being out-rebounded.

“Defense and rebounding is always a big key to winning games; each of our players needs to bring a more consistent effort in their preparation, energy and play level,” Mitts said.

“As we continue to mature, our players will eliminate the weeks when they may score 15 points on Wednesday night, but turnaround on Saturday afternoon and only score 2,” Mitts said.

Hoping to rebound from a road loss, the Lions hosted the Jennies of Central Missouri on Wednesday night.

“We will need to realize that we are a much better basketball team when we run our offense, get everyone involved and let our shots come to us.  We played a lot of one-on-one basketball at Truman. It is hard to win basketball games when we get out-rebounded. 

“We look forward to a much better performance against Western,” Mitts said.

The game against UCM was a seesaw battle, with each team exchanging baskets in the first half; the Jennies were able to go into halftime holding on to a 10-point lead. The second half proved to be a mirror image of what the first half had to offer.

The Lions were able to slowly chip away the 10-point deficit throughout the second half, and with 4:28 left in the game the Lions tied the game and took a one point lead with two free throws made by Dysyan Malone. However, the Jennies would quickly answer back with free throws of their own, putting the pressure back on the Lions. Made free throws coupled with some late Lion turnovers became the big factors to a tough home loss.

The Lions will regroup and be back in action tomorrow evening  on Jan. 28 when they travel to Bolivar, Mo., to face off against the Bearcats of Southwest Baptist University.