After a week of practice, the Gorillas will take on rival Missouri Southern for the first time this season at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in John Lance Arena.

Scouting Missouri Southern

Missouri Southern bounced back from a three-game losing streak over the holiday break to defeat Southwest Baptist (74-61) and Central Missouri (62-59) last week. The team improved to 11-5 overall, 5-5 in the MIAA following the two victories.

    Senior guard/forward Sharese Jones headlines the Lady Lion offense with 17.5 ppg, shooting .524 from the floor overall and .514 from long range. She also grabs 7.2 rpg. Junior guard Deb Holcomb follows closely behind, scoring 14.8 ppg and shooting .423 from the field. Senior guard Kenya Wilson-Brown dishes out the second most assists in the conference with 4.8 on the season.

    On the season, the Lady Lions score 64.0 points, pull down 35.2 rebounds, and steal 6.8 balls per game. They are also shooting .408 (346-848) from the field, .340 (96-282) from downtown, and .715 (236-330) from the foul line.

Scouting Pittsburg State

PItt State averages 74.6 points per game, while allowing opponents 63.75 ppg. The Gorillas shoot .424 from the floor overall and .342 from long range, hitting 7.3 threes per game. The team pulls down 37.8 rebounds per game, 3.2 more per game than their opponents. The team commits only 11.8 turnovers per game and has a 1.2 assists to turnover ratio.

    Mikaela Burgess continues to lead the Gorillas with 16.4 ppg. She is the team's top three-point shooter, having made 44-of-115 threes on the season for a .383 three-point shooting percentage. She hits almost three threes a game. Burgess is also the team's top free throw shooter with a .864 percentage from the charity stripe. Cathy Brugman is the team's second leading scorer with 13.8 ppg after scoring a career-high 25 points against Southwest Baptist last week. She also shares the team lead for rebounding with Kylie Gafford, ith each pulling down 5.9 rebounds per game. Gafford adds 12.8 ppg to the PSU cause. She and Burgess share the team lead in steals with 17. She also leads the team with 25 blocks on the season. Hadyn Herlockers leads the team with 66 assists for 4.4 assists per game. She has only turned the ball over 17 times on the season. She has a 3.88 assists/turnover ratio. She scores 6.1 ppg. Herlocker makes almost 40 percent of her shots from three-point range. Paige Lungwitz adds 6.0 ppg. Shelby Lopez and Paige Imhoff come off the bench to each contribute 5.1 ppg. 

    There is quite a difference in the team's play between wins and losses. In its wins, the Gorillas score 76.1 points. They commit only 10.3 turnovers per game in wins and outrebound opponents by 6.4 rpg. In losses, the Gorillas score only 67.5 ppg, are outrebounded by 4.2 and commit 16.0 turnovers per game. There is not a significant shooting percentage between wins and losses, proving that turnovers and rebounding are important keys for the Gorillas this season.

PSU vs. Missouri Southern

Pitt State leads the series with Missouri Southern 44-41 after winning six of the last eight meetings. Missouri Southern won the last meeting between the two teams, last season in PIttsburg. 

    Each team leads at its home venue, with Pitt State leading 25-17 in Pittsburg and Missouri Southern leading 23-18 in Joplin. The teams are tied 1-1 at neutral sites. Missouri Southern opened the series, which began on Dec. 13, 1974, with an eight game win streak. PSU did not earn its first win in the series until a one-point victory on Dec. 6, 1978 in Pittsburg.

    The Gorillas did earn the longest win streak in the series, winning 10 straight from Jan. 28, 1998 to Feb. 13, 2002. The streak ended when Missouri Southern earned a 69-65 win over Pitt State in the MIAA Tournament on Feb. 25, 2002.

    The largest margin of victory by either team in the series was a 87-44 (43 points) win by Missouri Southern on Feb. 15, 2006. Pitt State's biggest win was a 35-point (80-45) win on Feb. 16, 2000