Jan. 16—Missouri Southern State University’s defense was more than stingy in the second quarter Thursday night as the Lions held visiting Central Oklahoma to just 1 point during the 10-minute period.
That catapulted the MSSU women (12-7, 4-3 MIAA) on the way to a 68-5 2 win inside the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center. The Bronchos fall to 4-12 on the year and 3-4 in conference play.
“It was our defense. Our energy and effort on the defensive end,” MSSU head coach Ronnie Ressel said about his team’s performance. “As a group, we did a great job on the defensive end.”
The first quarter showed back-and-forth competitive action as UCO jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but then MSSU found itself in front at 11-9. The Lions were able to hold an 18-15 lead after 10 minutes.
The second quarter began with MSSU getting a free throw from Reese Webb on two attempts. Then a steal and fast break layup from Mackenzie Hart made it 21-15.
Makenna Yokley made her presence felt on the interior in the absence of starting post player Ryan Franklin. Yokley caught a pass on the interior and converted a close basket to make it 23-15. That was 2 of her 8 points in the game and the freshman also grabbed six rebounds in the game.
The Lions continued to stretch the lead and down the stretch of the half, Diamond Wildcat product Grace Frazier scored 6 points to help get the lead to 20 at 35-15.
Frazier scored 7 of her career-high 12 points in the first half. The freshman guard credited teammates and getting a couple of shots to fall for how she was able to earn a new scoring high.
“It means a lot. You just have to get a feel for it … once you get some shots to fall and when you have the teammates to help you out,” she said.
Hart shared some words about Frazier’s work ethic.
“On top of that, she’s in the gym every single day. She works out. She works hard. She’s one of our hardest working kids,” Hart said.
UCO made a free throw right before the half ended to get it to 35-16.
“When you take things away that they want to do, we did a great job on their ball-screen offense and for the most part, kept them out of the paint. It was huge,” Ressel said. “When you’re flying around with a lot of energy and effort, there’s a lot of positive things that can happen.”
The Bronchos came out in the third quarter with more intensity and aggressiveness as they flipped the script by going on a 12-0 run in the first 2 1/2 minutes and forcing the Lions into turnovers. The Lions responded by outscoring the visitors 16-6 for the rest of the quarter.
“When Central Oklahoma sees the ball go through, their defense picks up and they got some turnovers. We just had to settle down and see the ball go through the hole. When we score and our defense gets set in the half court I think we’re pretty good,” Ressel said.
MSSU had expanded the lead to 20 points during the fourth stanza at 61-41 after a 3-pointer by Hart. With reserves coming in, UCO was able to cut the deficit in the final two minutes.
Hart led the team with 14, while Frazier’s 12 followed. MSSU had 10 different players score.
UCO was led by LaKysia Johnson’s 18 points, while Talia Pogi added 12 and Korie Allensworth added 10 more.
The Bronchos committed 23 turnovers in the contest, and the Lions just 11. The Lions got 34 points off of those miscues by UCO. They also won the bench-point battle 34-2.
Southern welcomes Rogers State University (7-9, 1-6 MIAA) into town at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The Hillcats are on a three-game skid and lost to MSSU 57-54 on Dec. 4.
“It’s a mindset,” Ressel said of getting consistency on defense. “It’s a mindset of getting yourself in good position and understanding what we’re doing. I thought we did a good job for 32 or 33 minutes of the game making them uncomfortable.”
