ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - The game was tied after the first quarter, but Missouri Western pulled away afterwards to beat the Lincoln women's basketball team, 82-51, on Saturday (Feb. 6).

Missouri Western entered the game as the No. 9 team in the country, according to the WBCA/USA Today Division II Coaches Poll, but the Blue Tigers kept pace with the Griffons during the game's first 10 minutes. MWSU led, 7-3, halfway through the period, but four-straight points from Zuri Hill, who ended up scoring seven in the opening stanza, tied the game with 4:45 left on the clock.

A pair of free throws gave Missouri Western back the advantage, but Asia McCaskill swung the lead over to Lincoln with a three-pointer that put the Blue Tigers up, 10-9. Dorian Briggs then made a pair of free throws to give LU a three-point cushion. Missouri Western scored the next five points to re-take the lead, but a pair of shots by Hill at the charity stripe sent the game into the second quarter with the Blue Tigers tied with top-10 Griffons.

MWSU began to pull away in the second quarter, scoring the period's first seven points before finishing with a 26-11 scoring margin. The Griffons also reached the 20-point mark in the third and fourth quarters while holding Lincoln to 26 combined points over the game's final 20 minutes.

Three Blue Tigers did most of the work on the offensive side of the ball, with Hill leading the way with 17 points while grabbing five rebounds. Briggs provided 15 points, four assists and four steals, as well as a pair of rebounds, to the Lincoln cause. McCaskill scored 13 and grabbed five boards to go with three steals and an assist.

Jasmine Guthrie tallied four points and four rebounds while Naomi Bryant hit a layup to close the scoring. Sarah Neptune led LU with five assists and Lizzie Nessling had a team-high seven rebounds.

After playing their last four games on the road, the Blue Tigers will now have a week off before returning to Jason Gym to host Emporia State next Saturday (Feb. 13). Tip-off for that game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CST.