Lincoln women close regular season with loss

Meanwhile, Buie has double-double in LU men's game

JOPLIN, Mo. - The Lincoln women's basketball team closed out the regular season with a loss, but the Blue Tigers still have some basketball left to play this year.

Even though the Blue Tigers suffered a 79-69 loss at Missouri Southern on Saturday, they secured the No. 10 seed in the upcoming Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Tournament.

The top four teams in the league - No. 1 Fort Hays State, No. 2 Emporia State, No. 3 Pittsburg State and No. 4 Missouri Southern - receive first-round byes and advance straight to the three-day portion of the event held at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City beginning Friday.

The Blue Tigers (12-13 overall, 7-12 MIAA) will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at seventh-seeded Missouri Western (14-11, 9-10), with the winner moving on to face Emporia State at 6 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.

On Saturday, Missouri Southern (20-6, 14-5) took most of the drama out of the game early by racing out to an 11-3 lead after just 4 1/2 minutes.

The Lions led by as many as 14 points on five different occasions before settling for a 42-33 edge at halftime.

Missouri Southern pushed the lead to 21 points twice, the last coming at 70-49, before Lincoln closed the contest with a 20-9 run to make it close.

Hunter Yoakum dropped in a game-high 22 points to lead Lincoln, while Dorian Briggs chipped in with 14. Kate Frazier added 13 points and Kelsey Williams had 10 points and a team-high six assists.

Missouri Southern got a pair of double-doubles in the victory. Sharese Jones had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Camila Lacerda had 11 points and 10 assists.

Also for the Lions, Jenson Maydew scored 18 points and Shawnee Phillips had 13.

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In men's action Saturday, Joshua Buie closed out his Lincoln career with a double-double, but it wasn't enough as the Blue Tigers lost 95-79.

The senior racked up 19 points and dished out 11 assists while also grabbing five rebounds.

Blake Ralling, another senior, also scored 19 for the Blue Tigers (4-24, 1-18), all of them coming in the second half. Jeremy Jackson chipped in with 10 points.

The Lions (18-10, 12-7) put five players in double figures, led by Taevaunn Prince's 17 points. Lane Barlow had 13, Cameron Cornelius added 12, Austin Wright chipped in with 11 and Greg Renfroe scored 10.

After slightly more than five minutes, it was 17-3 in favor of Missouri Southern. The lead eventually ballooned to 21 - at 38-17 with 7:12 left in the half - and the Lions led 45-31 at halftime.

After trailing by 18 points early in the second half, the Blue Tigers eventually walked the lead down to 70-64 when Jeremy Jackson scored on a layup with 6:59 left.

But the Lions reasserted control and pushed the lead back to 15 points two minutes later.