Bolivar, Mo. – The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team fell against #19 Pittsburg State on Saturday afternoon 65-50. With the loss, SBU drops to 14-12 (9-11 MIAA) on the season.
Pittsburg State opened the game up with a slim 3-2 lead with 7:16 left in the first quarter before the Bearcats used 6-0 run with buckets from Mackenzie Skupa and Caylee Richardson to hold an 8-3 lead with 5:54 left in the quarter. The Bearcats continued to hold a five point advantage, and a Morgan Lucy layup with 3:11 left in the quarter gave SBU a 10-5 lead. PSU would go on a 5-0 run, but a three from Sarah Magana with four seconds left in the quarter sent SBU to the second quarter with a 13-10 lead.
In the second quarter the teams exchanged baskets before PSU went on a 6-0 run as SBU trailed 18-15 with 7:14 left in the half. However, SBU quickly responded with an 8-0 run of their own with six points from Richardson as SBU led 23-18 with 4:51 left in the half. The Gorillas would use a 14-3 run to close out the half as SBU went into the break trailing 32-26.
Coming out of the half Dilonna Johnson connected on a three, cutting the Gorilla lead back to three (32-29) with 9:40 left in the third quarter. PSU used a 9-2 run to extend their lead to double-digits (42-31) with 4:14 left in the quarter, but the Bearcats continued to hang around. SBU used a 7-0 run with five points from Magana and a layup from Megan Rosenbohm to cut the PSU lead to four (42-38) with 1:40 remaining in the quarter. Pitt State would extend their lead back to eight with 57 seconds left in the quarter, but a pair of free throws from Johnson put SBU down 47-41 heading into the fourth.
In the final quarter of play the Bearcats continued to hang around, and a Skupa jumper with 9:07 left in the game cut the deficit back to three (49-46) with 9:07 remaining. The Gorillas would respond, and push their lead back to seven, but SBU would continue to hang around. Richardson added another layup with 5:07 to go to pull SBU within five (55-50). However, PSU would end the game on a 10-0 run as the Bearcats would eventually fall 65-50.
Sarah Magana led SBU with a career high 16 points, including four three's, while Caylee Richardson added 12 points. As a team SBU shot 33.3% from the field, 25.0% from beyond the arc, and 62.5% from the free throw line.
