Danielle DeVader poured in a career-high 22 points and tied a career-best with 13 rebounds to lead the Missouri Southern Lions to an 81-67 victory over the Texas A&M International Dustdevils Monday night (Dec. 15) in Laredo, Texas.
Mary Tobias hit a three to give the Dustdevils an early 5-4 lead, but Nichole Helfrich hit two at the charity stripe to give the Lions the lead for good at 6-5 with still 16:50 left in the first half.
The Lions (7-1, 1-1 MIAA) extended the lead to double-figures as DeVader nailed the second of her five threes to cap a 19-8 run and put Southern up 23-13.
Southern was up 33-28 when DeVader scored eight of the Lions’ final 14 points of the first half to help grow the lead to 47-36 at the break.
The Lions continued to pull away by opening the second half on a 13-4 spurt as a trey by India Wood gave Southern a 20-point lead at 60-40 with 14:29 remaining.
After the Dustdevils (3-5) came within 61-45, DeVader quickly gave the Lions a 20-point lead again by converting a four-point play with 13:04 left.
The Lions continued to lead by 20 at 70-50 with 8:28 remaining, but the Dustdevils made a final push by out-scoring Southern 17-5 over the next six minutes to cut the lead to single-digits for the first time since the final stages of the first half.
Helfrich helped the Lions hold off the Dustdevils by hitting a jumper to push the lead back to 10 with 1:47 left. The Lions then made four free-throws down the stretch to close out the victory.
DeVader’s five threes were a season-best and one shy of her career-high. Helfrich also set a career-high with 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field and made all six of her free-throw attempts. India Wood added 14, while Randi Henderson dished out a team-high five assists.
Jasmine June and Chevelle Hoyle each scored 16 to lead the Dustdevils.
The Lions shot 47.3 percent (26-of-55) overall that was sparked by a red-hot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) effort in the first half.
Southern held the Dustdevils to a 38.6 percent (27-of-70) clip from the field overall and only 32.4 percent (11-of-34) in the second half.
The Lions will stay in the Lone Star State and play at Texas A&M Kingsville on Wednesday night (Dec. 17) at 7 p.m.
