Stokes' historic night sparks MSSU past UCO in MIAA opener
Dec. 3—With just 1:45 to play in the game and Central Oklahoma on an 11-5 run to trim the deficit to 71-64, the Missouri Southern women's basketball team got the ball in the hands of its talented true freshman guard.
And Lacy Stokes just did Lacy Stokes things.
The Mount Vernon product penetrated through traffic and made her way inside the paint, where she banked in an acrobatic reverse lay-in to give the Lions a 73-64 lead as MSSU (3-2, 1-0 MIAA) claimed an eventual 81-74 victory over UCO on Thursday night inside Leggett & Platt Athletic Center on Robert Corn Court.
After the crafty move from Stokes, all head coach Ronnie Ressel could do was look back at his bench and shake his head in amazement.
"That's how she has played her whole life," Ressel said. "She has always had to do those types of things to get the ball up on the board. It's just fun to watch. It's a treat for me to coach her because she can do so many different things on both ends of the floor. That's just the type of kid she is. She is a competitor and she wants to win."
Stokes finished with a career-high 33 points, which also set an MSSU freshman single-game scoring record. It marked the most points scored in a game for a Lion since Jasmine Lovejoy in 2011.
She hit 10 of 21 shots from the floor, 2 of 6 from beyond the arc and 11 of 17 from the charity stripe. Stokes paced the team with eight rebounds and tied for the team lead with five assists on the night.
"Truthfully, I didn't even know I had that many," Stokes said. "It's crazy. Back in my sophomore year (of high school), I wasn't a big scorer, so to hear that in my freshman year of college, it just shows how far I have come and how much work I have put in the last three years. It really makes me appreciate my workout coaches."
MSSU led from start to finish in the contest, getting off to a fast start behind the hot-hand of Amaya Johns. She propelled the Lions' to an 11-4 lead at the 6:14 mark and accounted for eight of MSSU's points during that stretch of play.
After a Kelsey Johnson layup at the buzzer, UCO trimmed the deficit to 19-11 after the first quarter of play. The Bronchos opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run capped by a layin from Johnson to cut the score to 24-22 with 5:27 to play in the first half.
UCO briefly took a one-point lead after Brooke Rayner splashed from deep at the 1:21 mark, but the Lions closed out the half with a 4-0 spurt to take a 35-32 lead after free throws from Stokes and a transition layup from Kaitlin Hunnicutt.
The Lions built a 58-45 lead with a 23-13 third quarter that was capped by a 3 from Cameron Call at the buzzer. The Bronchos rallied in the fourth quarter and got as close as four, but MSSU pulled away late.
"That's a great win against a good team," Ressel said. "They have one of the best bigs in the league (Johnson). I thought our defense did a good job. She still scored. She is going to score, but overall, I thought our defense was great. Offensively, I thought we did a great job of taking care of the basketball. I thought the difference in the game was that we took care of the basketball."
MSSU also featured Layne Skiles in double figures with 15 points, while Johns added 13. Hunnicutt finished with 10 points.
The Lions' defense held Johnson to just 15 points on 5 of 15 shooting. Brooke Rayner captured team honors for UCO (4-3, 0-1 MIAA) with 20 points.
"I think this win is huge for us," Stokes said. "I think it's going to open the eyes of other teams in our conference. I think this is big for our program. UCO is a good team. It's not like we won against a bunch of scrubs in a random conference game."
"I think this will definitely bump us up. People on the outside will see how good our team is this year."
MSSU hosts Newman at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
