Brett McMillan | Contributor

A scheduled 5:30 p.m. tipoff turned into a 6:15 p.m. game yesterday in Joplin, Mo. The Missouri Southern Lions women’s basketball team beat Lindenwood 72-61.The start of the game was delayed when the referees arrived late.

“As good as the teams we’ve been playing are, we’re going to spend the next week working on us,” Lindenwood coach

Tony Francis told lindenwoodlions.com. “We had 13 turnovers in the first half, and most of those were unforced. That’s maturity, accountability and focus. They have to learn to bring that night after night.”

LU trailed by 10 at halftime, and cut the lead to three with under eight minutes to go, but that was as close as Lindenwood got.

Southern center Shonte Clay led all scorers with 19 points. Fellow MSSU center Dominique Mosley had a game high eight rebounds.

Kassidy Gengenbacher was LU’s leading scorer with 14 points.

Lindenwood is now 8-7 overall, and 3-5 in the MIAA. Missouri Southern is 11-3, and 5-2 in conference.

The women are off a little less than a week. They play again at 5:30 p.m. January 22 when they host Southwest Baptist at the Hyland Arena.

First Published: 1/16/14 at 11:37 AM