Behind a pesky defense and balanced scoring, the Missouri Southern State University women’s basketball team earned a 78-67 upset win over No. 6 Fort Hays State University Thursday at Robert Ellis Young Gymnasium.
Southern head coach Ronnie Ressel talked about the significance of the win with the MIAA Tournament looming.
“It’s nice that we got a win against a really great team,” he said. “It just gives our team the confidence to say, ‘Hey, we can play with anyone in our league, and we can beat them.' I like the moxie we showed after losing two games last week to Northwest and Mo West to come back and fight like they did tonight to pull a win off against a very good Fort Hays State team.”
Lilly Thomas led the way for the Lions with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. Ashlynn Alloway finished with 16 points, putting her over the 1,000-point mark. Alloway also helped lead the defense with five steals and nine rebounds. Nariah Clay added 15 points and was 7 for 7 from the free-throw line.
“It feels great. I never thought I’d be like a 1,000-point player, so to reach that milestone is huge, especially after coming back from injury,” Alloway said. “I never thought in a million years I would reach this point. I honestly thank all my teammates and everyone around me that supports me day in and day out. I’m just over the moon.”
Ressel got significant contributions from a Lion bench that outscored the Tigers 32-3. Southern also made the most of its defense and rebounding, logging 24 points off 18 turnovers and 28 points off 14 rebounds.
“Our defense and bench were huge,” Ressel said. “Lilly Thomas came up big for us several different times offensively and defensively. As a team, our energy was tremendous for 40 minutes.”
Ressel also praised the play of Camryn Smith, who on defense was a thorn in the side of the Tigers.
“Defensively, she does a great job, and offensively, when she goes to the offensive boards, she’s so athletic and so fast she can go and get us some second opportunities. She gives us another kid that can get to the rim and score in the paint.”
Smith shared her mindset going into the game.
“I’m just there to give it my all, and if I need a break, I know they’ll take me out and then put me back in to help create energy for the team,” she said.
Alloway talked about the Lions' ability to exert their strength in the paint despite a lengthy Tiger team.
“We just all had each others' backs in the paint,” Alloway said, “That was the goal going in — not necessarily shutting them down but making sure they didn’t get more than us.”
Thomas also weighed in on MSSU’s strengths in the paint and how the connection between the players has developed.
“We definitely practice those second-half points,” Thomas said. “At first, we weren’t weak, but we had to work on it more to develop it, and I think we got it down to be able to execute it.”
The game was tight throughout with Fort Hays jumping out to an 11-4 lead off a Talexa Weeter short jumper at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter.
Southern responded with an 8-0 run that included with a jumper from Thomas, a Thomas putback of her own shot, an Alloway score in the paint and a Smith layup that gave the Lions their first lead of the game at 12-11 with 3:21 left.
The teams traded buckets and the lead for the remainder of the quarter. Clay hit a trey from the top of the key to give Southern a 15-13 lead, but Weeter answered from behind the arc. Delaney Roller scooped up a loose ball and hit a 3-pointer that made it an 18-16 game, but Olivia Mortensen tied the game with a layup for the Tigers. Smith put the Lions ahead 20-18 with a drive to the rim as time expired in the opening quarter.
Roller opened the second quarter with an and-1 off a follow in transition to give Southern a 23-18 lead. The MSSU lead grew to 9 points at 27-18 off a Thomas score in the paint and an Alloway score in the paint that put her over the 1,000-point mark.
The Tigers answered Southern’s 7-point run with an 8-point run of their own that made it a 1-point game at 27-26 with 7:20 left in the half. The run included a Brooke Loewe layup and treys by Weeter and Ellie Stearns.
Fort Hays (23-3, 14-3) tied the game at 32-32 with a 3-pointer at the 5:53 mark, but seconds later, Southern answered with an Alloway layup that made it 34-32. A Loewe jumper made it 34-all, but the Lions took back the lead for good at the 5:11 mark with a Makenna Yokley score with 5:11 left.
Southern (18-7, 12-4) extended its lead to 7 points off a Grace Frazier jumper that made it 45-38 with 1:14 left, but the Tigers closed out the first half with an Avery Lowe trey that made it a 45-41 game going into the break.
Fort Hays pulled within a point with a Stearns trey to open the second half, but by the 4:16 mark, MSSU built its lead back to 8 points off a Smith score and a pair of Clay free throws.
The Lions outscored Fort Hays 11-10 the remainder of the quarter to take a 66-57 lead into the final frame.
The Tigers trimmed the lead to 6 points at the 6:29 mark off a Mortensen 3-pointer that made it a 69-62 game, but after a Thomas jumper and a pair of Clay free throws, the Lions were up double digits at 72-62 with 4:20 left.
Hays got as close as 6 points again at 2:24, but Southern outscored the Tigers 5-0 down the stretch to claim the upset win.
Mortensen led the Tigers with 20 points. Weeter had 16, and Stearns finished with 13.
MSSU closes out the home portion of its schedule with a game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against the University of Nebraska-Kearney.