Lincoln women drop MIAA game vs. Missouri Western

For the most part, the Lincoln women's basketball team finished quarters well Saturday. The problem is the Blue Tigers were already in a big hole they had to climb out of.

Lincoln trailed by seven points at the start of the fourth quarter, but Missouri Western dominated the game's final 10 minutes to finish off a 66-47 win at Jason Gym.

"I felt like our effort level was there," Lincoln coach Ayana McWilliams said. "We were still in the game late. We've just got to find a way to score the basketball down the stretch."

Missouri Western led 19-9 after one quarter and was nearly doubling up Lincoln 29-15 midway through the second quarter. That's when the Blue Tigers began to turn it on offensively.

Alecia Gulledge scored a basket and Kaloni Pryear scored a putback just before the shot clock buzzer sounded. Vivian Chigbu made a pair of free throws to make the score 29-21 with 3:42 left in the first half.

"We always like to play inside-out," McWilliams said. "Our posts haven't been present over the last few games, and today they were here."

Lincoln used a couple of timeouts late in the second quarter, setting up the offense to close the gap to seven points, but Missouri Western's Chris Wilson scored a basket with :04 left to put the Griffons ahead 34-25 at halftime.

"You have to be able to capitalize on those key possessions," McWilliams said. "We had a couple lapses in key areas of the game."

Missouri Western pushed the lead back to double digits quickly to start the second half. But after the 5:00 mark, Lincoln began another comeback.

This time, the rally amounted to an 8-0 run, as Pryear's putback closed the deficit to 44-39 with 2:24 to go in the third quarter.

"The effort was there today," McWilliams said. "I haven't felt like that in a while."

Lincoln finished the game with 54 rebounds, 13 more than Missouri Western, with 21 of them coming on the offensive end. That resulted in 20 second-chance points, but McWilliams said that number needed to be higher.

"It's hard to focus on all the good when we can't score the ball," McWilliams said after her team shot just 31.3 percent from the floor. " We have to find a way to finish."

Pryear, who led the Blue Tigers with 15 points, picked up her fourth foul with 9:20 left in the game. She didn't re-enter until the 2:20 mark, when the Griffons already had a 14-point lead.

"We were going to put her back in just under the media (timeout)," McWilliams said, "but I thought four minutes was way too long for her to get that fifth foul with the way she plays."

Lincoln didn't score in the final four minutes, as Missouri Western ended the game on a 9-0 run.

Corbyn Cunningham led Missouri Western (6-2, 1-1 MIAA) with 17 points, followed by Wilson with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Katrina Roenfeldt also had a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards.

Gulldedge added 10 points for the Blue Tigers.

Lincoln (1-8, 0-2 MIAA) hosts Hannibal-LaGrange next Saturday.