By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Southern’s Municipal Auditorium misery continued Thursday afternoon.

The fourth-seeded Lions, ahead by nine points with eight minutes remaining, scored just 10 points the rest of the game and lost to Northwest Missouri State 74-66 in overtime, the sixth consecutive year Southern has lost in the first round of the MIAA Postseason Tournament.

The Lions (18-10) shot 51 percent from the floor (26-of-51), but they could not overcome 30 turnovers and the Bearcats’ 21 offensive rebounds.

“We threw the game away, literally,” Lions head coach Maryann Mitts said. “Thirty turnovers, seven from our point guard, it’s going to be hard to win a basketball game.

“And the other statistic is their 21 offensive rebounds compared to nine of ours.”

Ela Zawadka’s short jumper gave the Lions a 56-47 advantage with eight minutes left, but on the Lions’ last 13 possessions of regulation, they had seven turnovers and one field goal — Lindsey Davis’ jumper in the middle of the lane — in three attempts.

The Lions made four free throws in the last two minutes — two by Nichole Helfrich for a 60-60 tie with 1:43 left and two by Tynesha Pierce for a 62-61 lead with 28.8 seconds

to play. But 10 seconds later, Pierce fouled out, and Mandi Schumacher made the back end of a two-shot foul to make it 62-62.

Both teams had chances to win the game in regulation, but the Lions’ India Wood missed a 1-and-1 free throw with 17 seconds left, and the Bearcats’ Lauren Williams missed a 10-footer with three seconds left.

In overtime, the Bearcats scored on their first two possessions as Meghan Brue hit a 3-pointer and Schumacher scored on the inside.

The Lions’ struggles continued as they had three turnovers and three missed shots before Robin Kantin’s free throw cut the deficit to 69-63 with 1:26 left. Helfrich’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 11 seconds left was the Lions’ only field goal in overtime and their first in 11 minutes.

“We didn’t do too much differently,” Lions junior guard Danielle DeVader said. “They picked it up a little bit on defense. We just turned the ball over too much, sloppy passes, which they double-team in the post. ... We were back on our heels for a few minutes, and it got them going.”

“Going into overtime, we wanted to get it from the beginning,” Williams said. “We have to get stops, get on a run and get ahead early. We got in our mind we were going to get stops and win the game.”