Jennies Down Southern on the Road

JOPLIN, Mo. (Jan. 10, 2018) - The No. 19 Central Missouri Jennies went on the road and picked up a 70-67 win over the Missouri Southern Lions. The Jens move over .500 in the MIAA at 3-2 and are 10-3 overall.

How it Happened
• The Jennies led for more than 26 minutes in what was a tight game throughout. Neither team led by more than eight at any point in the game.
• Missouri Southern entered as the leading rebounding team in the MIAA, but it was the Jennies who were strong on the glass holding a 46-26 rebounding edge. UCM also brought down 22 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points.
• The Jennies also outscored the Lions in the paint, 34-28.
• Both teams were turnover prone with the Lions losing the ball 17 times and the Jennies 16 times.
• The Jens got off to a 7-2 run, with five points coming from Kim Crown. That lead didn't last though as the Lions outscored UCM 5-0 in the final 58 seconds and left 23-18 after 10 minutes.
• Second period is when the Jennies really turned it on. They outscored the Lions 20-9 in the period and used a 10-2 run late in the period to put some distance on the Lions. MSSU hit a basket with 47 seconds left and at the half, UCM led by six, 38-32. 
• Just four minutes into the second half, the Lions were able to tie the game for the eighth time as they opened the second on an 8-2 run.
• Tied up at 42-all, the Jennies went on a 6-0 stretch with four points from Paige Redmond and they never trailed again.
• Up by three going into the fourth, the Jennies seemed to take control stretching it back out to eight after a long jumper from Kim Crown. It took less than two minutes though for the Lions to close the gap to two, 60-58.
• Twice in the final two minutes, the Lions got to within a single point. Right after a three from Cozart, Sydney Crockett and Kim Crown executed a give-and-go and the Jennies were back up three, 66-63. 
• With less than 30 seconds to play Cozart again made a long three to close the game to one, 67-66. Needing to foul, Paige Redmond took the ball and sunk both freebies. Chelsey Henry and Megan Skaggs both went 1-2 in the final five seconds and the Jennies escaped Joplin with a 70-67 win.

It Was Over When...
• The Lions didn't allow the Jennies to pull away. This came down to the wire. Megan Skaggs pulled down a big defensive rebound off of a missed free throw with four seconds to play. She was fouled and got the the free throw line where she made it a three-point game and Morgan Fleming grabbed Skaggs' miss on the backend as the Lions never saw the ball again.

Jennies Stat Leaders
• Paige Redmond scored a team-high 18 points. Half of her points came at the free throw line where the 90% shooter was 9-10. She also dished out five assists.
• Kim Crown scored 17 points going 7-10 from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds.
• Megan Skaggs added 16 points and was a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. She finished a rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards.
• Morgan Fleming filled out the box score with nine points, six rebounds and five assists.
• Peyton Taylor came off the bench to score five points. Sydney Crockett chipped in four points and four boards.

For the Lions
• Chelsey Henry finished with a game-high 20 points going 8-21 from the field.
• Destiny Cozart hit five three-pointers and scored 17 points. She also led MSSU with five rebounds.
• Amber Buch was 4-6 for 10 points.

News and Notes
• The Jennies are back over .500 in the MIAA for the first time since starting out 1-0.
• Missouri Southern entered the game as the MIAA leaders in rebounding. The Jennies came out with a season-high tying 45 rebounds and outrebounded MSSU 45-26.
• The Lions also entered the game shooting just 28% from three. They found their stroke to the tune of 11-23 from behind the arc, but the Jennies were able to hold them off. The 11 three-pointers match a season-high given up by UCM.
• With the Lions only scoring nine second-quarter points, the Jennies are now 6-1 this season, when they hold an opponent below 10 points in a period.
• Paige Redmond joins the Jennies top-10 all-time point scorers with 1,430.
• Peyton Taylor scored career-point number 150.

Up Next
• The Jennies will remain down south Saturday, when they take on Pittsburg State Jan. 12. Tip off is 1:30 p.m.