GREENVILLE, Ill. — Mississippi University for Women basketball spent the weekend on the road, playing at Greenville University for a Saturday doubleheader.
It ended up being a weekend split for the Owls against the Panthers as the women’s team continued its winning ways in conference play while the men’s team faltered against the co-leaders of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).
Starting with women’s basketball, sophomore Zoe Essary was the star of the show for the Owls (5-6, 4-3 SLIAC) scoring a season-high and career-high 26 points in a 83-77 win.
MUW set a school record with 12 made three-pointers, shooting 50 percent (12-of-24) from deep as it recorded its third win in its last four games, scoring 80 points or more in all three wins.
“Our kids showed a lot of toughness today, especially down the stretch in the fourth when Greenville started to make their comeback,” women’s head coach Drew Johnson said in Saturday’s press release. “… Anytime something didn’t go our way, our bench was yelling ‘next play’, and that attitude allowed us to stand tall against adversity.”
Conley Langford, despite foul trouble early on, had another stellar game with 16 points and eight rebounds, extending her double-figure scoring streak to 19 consecutive games.
MUW didn’t make a field goal in the final five minutes of play, seeing a 17-point third-quarter lead dwindle down to four with 29 seconds left in the game. However, free throws down the stretch made the difference as the Owls shot 12-of-17 from the line in the fourth quarter and 23-of-29 (79.2 percent) in the game overall.
“To be able to come in and win says a lot about our kids and our team,” Johnson said. “We are headed in the right direction, we just need to continue to put one foot in front of the other every single day. I really like who we are becoming.”
On the men’s side, a high-scoring affair from both sides ended in a 32-point blowout loss to the Owls, 126-94.
Taking on the best in the SLIAC, MUW (6-8, 2-5 SLIAC) certainly got Greenville’s best, but didn’t have its best game when it comes to preventing mistakes.
Just about the opposite happened for the Owls, recording a program-record 37 turnovers that led to 37 points off turnovers for the Panthers.
“This game will forever come down to consistent disciplined habits and we did not have any of that here today,” men’s head coach Dean Burrows said in Saturday’s press release. “While what they do is to speed you up, 37 turnovers were not entirely forced by them. We threw the ball into the bleachers on several instances.”
While MUW took 78 shots in the game, just seven were from beyond the arc, compared to Greenville’s 107 shot attempts and 64 three-point attempts on the day.
The Panthers shot 23-of-64 from three and just 41.9 percent from the field overall, a far cry from the Owls’ 55.1 percent field goal percentage in the loss, but those 23 three-pointers amounted to 63 more points from three than MUW.
Three players finished in double-figures for the Owls, led by a 22-point effort from Brye Hopkins and a 20-point game from Tarik Islamovic. Cam Smith was a point off 20, finishing with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field.
“Hats off to Greenville,” Burrows said. “Their guys stepped up in the absence of others for them, capitalizing on their opportunity and were far more the aggressor for 40 minutes.”
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