Women's Basketball Drops Road Game at Graceland

Lamoni, Iowa, (Jan. 20, 2024)- The Missouri Valley College men's and women's basketball teams traveled to Lamoni, Iowa, for a Heart of America Athletic Conference doubleheader against Graceland (Iowa), Saturday afternoon.  The women's team fell by a score of 64-48.

Graceland jumped out to an early lead at the start of the women's game, with the first field goal of the contest for Missouri Valley coming three minutes into play from Sophomore Sophie Sullivan (Lombard, Ill.), who followed with a three-pointer to cut the team's deficit to 6-5 with four minutes off the clock.  Freshman Jozelynn Bostick (Centralia, Mo.) tacked on a pair of free throws, but MVC trailed, 13-7, with just over one minute to play in the quarter.  Junior Maddie Ferrara (Hendersonville, Tenn.) made it a 13-10 score moments later, followed by GU scoring four-straight to end the quarter and make it 17-10.

The Vikings used one layup each from Sophomore Tyler Conkright (Ellington, Mo.) and Junior Noa Fernandez (Castaneda, Spain) to make it a 19-14 contest just past the eight-minute mark.  The Yellowjackets built up their advantage from there, and eventually led, 28-16, with two minutes to play before the break.  Sullivan added a late three-pointer, but Missouri Valley trailed, 30-19, at halftime.

A pair of free throws from Sullivan and a layup from Fernandez cut the gap to 30-23 with three minutes played after the restart.  Graceland briefly built its lead back to double-digits, while Conkright finished off a layup to make it a 33-25 score midway through the quarter.  The Yellowjackets then outscored MVC by an 8-2 margin over the next three minutes.  Ferrara and Sophomore Raegan Brown (Mokane, Mo.) each added late field goals to put the team in a 41-31 deficit going into the fourth quarter.

The two teams traded points to open the final quarter of play, which included a layup from Junior Kiara Williams (Shawnee, Kan.) and a Sullivan three-pointer as the deficit sat at 47-36 with just over two minutes played.  Conkright came through with a three-pointer moments later, for a 49-39 score.  However, Missouri Valley was unable to work back to a single-digit deficit through the rest of the game, and fell by a final score of 64-48.

Sullivan led with 13 points to go with five rebounds.  Fernandez added 11 points and seven rebounds.  Missouri Valley came down with 14 offensive rebounds and forced Graceland into 13 turnover.

The loss drops Missouri Valley to 9-9 overall and 7-7 in the Heart.  Graceland improves to 9-9 on the season and 7-7 in the conference.

Up next, the Missouri Valley basketball teams will host Grand View (Iowa) in a Heart doubleheader, Monday, inside the Burns Athletic Complex.  Women's game at 5 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7 p.m.  These games were impacted by weather, and originally scheduled for Jan. 13.

Box Score-Click Here

About Missouri Valley College

Known for its dynamic, richly diverse, and friendly educational environment, Missouri Valley College offers many opportunities to grow in mind, body, and spirit. Grounded in the liberal arts, undergraduate studies empower students to master interdisciplinary skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based global society. MVC offers over 30 academic programs, study abroad program, extracurricular activities, and a wide variety of sports. The most popular majors include education and business, criminal justice and exercise science. Above all, Valley is committed to student success. For more information, call (660) 831-4000 or visit www.moval.edu.