KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Missouri Southern Lions avenged a regular season setback against the Northwest Missouri State University women's basketball team with a 67-58 triumph in the 2026 MIAA Tournament quarterfinal in Municipal Auditorium.

The Lions (20-9 overall) used a 23-point effort from freshman Lilly Thomas and 15 points from Nariah Clay to oust the Bearcats from the league tourney. Northwest (18-12 overall) was led by freshman Bailey Birmingham's 15 points and sophomore Brooklyn Stanley's 12 points. MSSU won the rebounding battle, 41-30, and held Northwest to 36.5% shooting from the floor.

Missouri Southern jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes and led 15-12 at the end of the first quarter. Northwest battled back and knotted the game at 18-18 with 6:34 left in the second quarter. Birmingham drained a triple with 4:06 left in the second quarter to give Northwest its first lead of the game at 25-22. The Lions answered back and took a 29-28 lead into the intermission.

The Lions opened the third quarter on a 16-5 run to take a 12-point lead with 4:24 on the clock. Missouri Southern had been 0-for-4 from three-point range in the first half but buried three from distance in the third as Makenna Yokley sank two and Clay knocked in one. MSSU maintained an eight-point lead at 50-42 after three quarters. 

Northwest scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to ignite the Bearcat faithful in historic Municipal Auditorium. Stanley started the spurt with a bucket. Kirsten Hauck buried a triple in transition and Maas followed with a basket in the lane with 7:00 left to trim the MSSU lead to 50-49.

However, MSSU's Clay knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing and Thomas followed with a putback to lengthen the lead back to six at 55-49 with 6:02 to play.  

Another Hauck three-pointer with 4:47 left in the game sliced the MSSU lead to three at 58-53 and Kenzie Melcher sank a three-pointer with 1:11 remaining to decrease the Lions' advantage to five at 61-56. But the Bearcats could climb no closer and the Lions moved on to the MIAA Tournament semifinals vs. top-seeded Central Missouri, 67-58. 

Maas, the MIAA's Defensive Player of the Year, grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and she blocked one shot.

NOTES: Northwest is 18-28 all-time in MIAA Tournament play ... Northwest is 8-14 in quarterfinal games ... Northwest is 4-2 as the tournament's No. 5 seed ... Missouri Southern is 4-3 vs. Northwest in MIAA Tournament games ... Missouri Southern holds a 39-32 lead in the all-time series with Northwest ... freshman Bailey Birmingham finished the season with 69 made three-pointers, which ranks as the sixth-highest single-season mark in program history ... Maas blocked 73 shots to rank as the second-best single-season performance in school history ... Northwest was 1-10 in games in which the Bearcats scored less than 60 points.