PITTSBURG, Kan. — Pittsburg State trailed by as many as eight twice in the first half and 12 in the second half before rallying back for a 70-67 win over Missouri Southern on Saturday at John Lance Arena.
The Gorillas have won five straight games and improve to 6-3, 6-3 MIAA. The loss snaps the Lions’ four-game winning streak, dropping Southern to 4-4, 4-4 MIAA.
“I was just really proud of our girls’ resiliency,” Pittsburg State coach Amanda Davied said. “There’s been games in the past where we’ve caved a little bit. Winning gives you confidence, so I think right now we are a confident team. It showed in the second half that we have been in those situations before, and we toughed it out.”
STAT LEADERS
Kaylee DaMitz led PSU with 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go along with a team-high six assists and four rebounds. Tristan Gegg finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Carthage product Maya Williams finished with nine points and seven rebounds, while Julia Johnson scored eight and had six rebounds with two steals.
Southern was led in scoring by Carley Turnbull’s 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting. She finished with seven rebounds. Kaitlin Hunnicut came off the bench to score 15 points to go along with four rebounds, a block and a steal. Zoe Campbell scored eight and led the Lions with eight rebounds.
GAME SCRIPT
Southern jumped out early on Pittsburg State, building an eight-point lead, 20-12, through six minutes of action. The Lions’ strong work on the glass was a big proponent to taking the momentum early, outrebounding the Gorillas 12-8 in the first quarter, which led to a 7-2 MSSU advantage in second-chance scoring.
The Gorillas, who trailed by five after the first, found themselves down eight again early in the second period. Pittsburg State battled back and whittled the lead down to one, 27-26, on a DaMitz 3-pointer at the six-minute mark.
Southern closed the first half in a big way, using an 11-2 run to go into the intermission with a 38-28 lead. Turnbull knocked down a 3-ball to kick off the run before Biance Stocks and PSU’s Johnson traded buckets , with Hunnicutt draining her third 3-pointer of the first half to make the score 35-28 with 3:01 left. A Hailey Grant score on the drive and a free throw from Anna Hall wrapped the run and the first-half scoring.
“The game of basketball is about runs,” MSSU coach Ronnie Ressel said of his team’s ability to stave off PSU’s early comeback bids. “It’s just a matter of how big of a run it is going to be and if you can subside it and get back under control and into your favor. Really through the first three quarters, for the most part, I thought we did a really good job of doing that.”
Perimeter shooting was an advantage for the Lions in the first half, as MSSU was 5-of-10 shooting from deep in the first two quarters. PSU was limited to 1-for-7 shooting from the perimeter in the first half.
“It was good for us to be able to make those shots,” Ressel said. “It was good to see our kids step up. We had some good looks and we made them. In the first half, we did a really good job of executing our offense.”
Southern pushed the lead to 12 early in the first quarter before an 11-0 run by Pittsburg State trimmed the margin to 40-39 with 2:51 to play. The Lions briefly pushed the lead back to nine before the Gorillas cut the lead to one possession on the back of back-to-back 3-pointers by Jayme Jackson to end the quarter.
“When Jayme hit those two 3s, I think that was really the turning point,” DaMitz said. “It really just got us going. … From there, we were just rolling. Everybody was rolling.”
“That definitely was the turning point of the game,” Gegg added. “Jayme coming in (and making those shots) just was insane. I almost lost my voice screaming so loudly.”
The Gorilla women carried that momentum into the final quarter of play when Julia Johnson tied the game with an inside score 30 seconds into the fourth. After a Southern turnover, Gegg drilled a 3-ball from the right wing to give Pittsburg State its first lead of the game, 55-52, with 9:05 left in regulation. Williams made it 14 unanswered points for PSU spanning back to the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner at 7:25 to push the lead to 58-52.
“Momentum was huge,” Davied said. “I felt like at the end of the third, just being in that position really helped us continue to have some confidence and feel like we’re going to push through. … We closed that gap, and we closed it quickly. That is where our energy changed. … I thought our girls really had some answers and solutions to their situations.”
“We got on each other’s energy bus, and that is what you have to do every game,” Gegg added.
From there, Pittsburg State never surrendered the lead en route to victory.
UP NEXT
Pittsburg State travels to Emporia State for a 5:30 p.m. tip on Jan. 14.
Missouri Southern travels to Washburn for a 5:30 p.m. tip on Jan. 14.
