By Jim Henry

jhenry@joplinglobe.com

HAYS, Kan. — As dismal as Missouri Southern’s opening minutes were in their previous four games, the Lions’ start on Saturday couldn’t have been much better, grabbing a 12-point lead in the first six minutes.

But a 15-point second-half lead disappeared in a four-minute stretch, and Fort Hays State held on in the waning seconds to stun the Lions 69-66 at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

The Lions (17-8, 11-7 MIAA) hit 56 percent while building a 39-25 halftime lead, but they cooled to 32 percent while scoring 27 second-half points.

The Tigers (11-14, 7-11), by contrast, jumped from 40 percent shooting in the first half to 58 percent in the final half and secured a berth in the conference postseason tournament.

The Lions trailed 63-56 with four minutes left when Danielle DeVader hit two 3-pointers and India Wood sank four free throws to pull within 67-66 with 41 seconds left. DeVader’s last trey from the right wing was her fifth of the game and No. 181 for her career, one more than the former school record held by Terri Haynes.

After the Lions rebounded Erica Biel’s missed 3-pointer, they called a timeout with 11.9 seconds left.

The Tigers had the Lions well-defended on the inbounds pass, and Myosha Barnes’ lob pass inside to a tightly-guarded Michelle Hedgecock was knocked away. Naomi Bancroft grabbed the ball on the floor and was fouled by Hedgecock.

“It was a poor decision on my part,” Lions head coach Maryann Mitts said. “If I could do it all over again, I would run a skip play to Danielle at the top for a 3.

“We went for a freshman trying to get the backside. We got it in the first half (for a wide-open basket) and I thought maybe the same thing would be open here late and get an easy bucket. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a freshman. The second option was Danielle or India stepping in at the 3. We wanted something quick, something going to the basket.”

“We wanted to make them work to get the ball in, and hopefully they would catch it out of sync and do something (different) than what they had planned,” Bancroft said. “Then any loose ball, we were jumping on it.”

Bancroft made both free throws for a three-point lead with 9.6 seconds to play. After a Tiger timeout, Barnes brought the ball upcourt, but her 3-pointer from the just left of the top of the circle bounced off the backboard and rim. Lindsey Davis rebounded for the Lions but didn’t get outside the arc before the buzzer sounded.

“We had two 3-point shooters on the right side of the floor,” Mitts said. “We dribbled on the incorrect side of the floor, away from the 3-point shooters.”

Barnes netted 19 points —11 in the first half — for the Lions, hitting 5-of-8 field goals and 8-of-8 free throws.

DeVader, 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, collected 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Wood had 13 points and six assists, making 3-of-14 from the floor and 6-of-7 at the line.

Bancroft scored 12 of her game-high 20 points in the second half for the Tigers. She was 3-of-8 from 3-point range, raising her single-season school records to 97 treys and 280 attempts.

Audra Binford also had 12 second-half points and finished with 16 for the Tigers, who hadn’t won a game all season by less than 12 points. Morgan Clark had 14 points, and Biel, coming off a 27-point, 17-rebound game against Southwest Baptist, had 13 points and four boards.

The Lions, who didn’t score for almost nine minutes Thursday night at Washburn, got on the board quickly as DeVader nailed a 3 from the right wing seven seconds after tipoff. Wood, Davis and Barnes also hit 3s, and Hedgecock and Davis scored on the inside as the Lions hit six of their first seven attempts for a 16-4 lead.

“We had a great start, couldn’t have started out better,” Mitts said. “I was very pleased with the first half. We did a lot of positive things, overcame some foul trouble and shot the ball extremely well and held them under 28 points, which was our goal for the first half.”

The Lions’ lead was 49-34 after Davis’ rebound basket with 13:20 left, but the Lions didn’t score for four minutes, and the Tigers ran off 15 points to pull even at 49-all. The Tigers made six straight shots and were 7-of-8 overall in the span while the Lions had five missed shots and two turnovers.

“A lot of mental mistakes happened during that period,” Mitts said. “That stretch really hurt us and gave them confidence. That was the biggest thing that stretch did. It gave them confidence and it allowed the free-throw situation to really go into effect and determine the basketball game. I don’t know how many straight possessions we fouled. We were a little too stubborn in adjusting our play (on defense).

“There were a lot of mistakes being made in a half when you lose a 14-point lead. I can handle physical mistakes, but it’s the mental mistakes that are really hurting us right now.”

The Lions, now tied with Central Missouri for fourth place, play their final two games at home, meeting Nebraska-Omaha on Wednesday night and Northwest Missouri State on Saturday afternoon.