BOLIVAR, Mo. — The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team fell at the hands of #11 Emporia State 78-61 on Thursday evening in Bolivar. With the loss, SBU drops to 11-8 (6-7 MIAA) on the season.
Both ESU and SBU opened up the game shooting red hot, as both teams exchanged buckets with an 8-8 tie with 6:39 left in the first quarter. Mackenzie Skupa had strong opening play for the Bearcats, scoring six of SBU's first eight points. ESU was the first to break away, using a 7-0 run to take a 15-8 lead, but a layup from Leann Terill followed by a Terrill three, cut the Lady Hornets lead to two at 15-13. The scoring would go back-and-forth for the remainder of the quarter, and a jumper from Skupa brought SBU within three at 20-17.
ESU opened the second quarter with a three, taking a 23-17 lead, but the Bearcats responded right back with a layup from Caylee Richardson, followed by an old-fashioned three-point play from Skupa, to trail 23-22 with 8:54 left in the half. ESU pushed their lead back to seven (29-22), before an old-fashioned three-point play from Megan Rosenbohm followed by a layup from Skupa cut the deficit back to two (29-27) with 6:26 to go in the half. SBU would continue to hang around, and a Sarah Magena three with 2:45 left in the half would give SBU their first lead of the contest at 37-35. However, ESU would end the half on a 10-0 run as SBU went into the break trailing 45-37.
In the second half the Bearcats were quick to get on the scoreboard off of a layup from Magana and a jumper from Richardson to cut the lead back down to four (45-41) with 8:02 remaining in the third. The Lady Hornets continued to maintain a small lead (50-43), before another old-fashioned three-point play from Rosenbohm put SBU within four (50-46) with 5:21 left in the third quarter. However, once again ESU would make a run, pushing their lead to double-digits, but a three from Dilonna Johnson at the buzzer put SBU within 11 at 61-50 heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter SBU continued to hang with ESU, bringing the deficit back to single digits off of a Rosenbohm jumper and Richardson free throw (67-59) with 5:58 left in the game. However, ESU slowly continued to build their lead over the remainder of the game, as SBU would eventually fall 78-61.
Rosenbohm led SBU in scoring with 14 points and a team high 6 rebounds, while Richardson had 13 points and 6 rebounds and Skupa added 13 points. As a team SBU shot 37.5% from the field, 25.0% from beyond the arc, and 61.5% from the free throw line.
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, January 30 when they host Washburn. Play is set to begin at 1:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.
