PITTSBURG, Kan. -- The Pittsburg State women's basketball team (24-4, 14-3 MIAA) overcame an eight-point late second half deficit to send Saturday's (Feb. 21) game against Missouri Southern to overtime. The Lions went up by five early in the overtime, and this time the comback effort fell short, ending in a 72-68 loss for the Gorillas.
The Gorillas cut the Lion lead to one, 67-66. on a Antqunita Reed layup with 40 seconds to go in the overtime, but Pitt State fouls and Missouri Southern's free throw shooting stretched the lead back to four. Reed made another layup with two seconds to go, to make the score 70-68, but the Gorillas fouled on the inbounds pass and Nicole Hartzog made both free throws for the Lions to seal the PSU loss.
Lizzy Jeronimus put up a double-double in the loss with 15 points and 10 rebounds, all 15 of her points came in the second half. Reed added 15 points, including six in the overtime period. Cathy Brugman and Mikaela Burgess came off the bench to add 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Missouri Southern shot .400 from the floor overall and .412 from three point range, compared to just .356 overall and .263 from long range for the Gorillas. The team were fairly even on the glass, with the Lions gradding just one more, 42-41.
Missouri Southern lead for 31 minutes in a game that same 10 ties and 12 lead changes. Ten of those 12 lead changes were in the first half alone.
Neither team led by more than six in the first half. Pitt State lead 25-22 with just under two minutes left in the half, but the Lions went on a little run and Jordan Dinyear hit a three with five seconds left to leave the Gorillas down 29-27 at the half.
The Lions held onto that lead and built it up to eight points, 54-46, with 6:52 left in the game. A three by Jeronimus sparked a 10-0 run by the Gorillas that gave them a 56-54 lead with 4:11 to go. There were three more ties in regulation, the final on a layup by Jeronimus with 20 seconds to go to make the score 60-60.
Camila Lacerda started the overtime with a three and her team held on for the win.
Lacerda finished the game with 14 points. Hartzog led all scorers with 18 and Sharese Jones added 12 for the Lions.
Pitt State will finish out the regular season with two tough road games. The team travels to No. 13 Emporia State on Wednesday evening, followed by Saturday evening matchup with Washburn in Topeka.
