The Missouri Western women improve to 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the MIAA after holding on for a 68-66 victory over Northwest Missouri State University. Heather Howard collected her eighth double-double of the season dumping in 16 points and snaring 12 rebounds. KC Clouser gave the Griffons a big lift off the bench scoring a season high seven points on 2-of-2 shooting from the field and going 3-for-3 from the free throw line.
The Griffons hit its first two shots of the ball game going up 5-0 after a three pointer and a layup from Heather Howard. The rest of the half was an offensive struggle with the Griffons making just seven of its next 22 shots going into the locker room down 28-23 against rival Northwest Missouri State.
The Griffons held the lead until the 9:51 mark of the first half when Ashley Thayer nailed her first three of the half giving the Bearcats a 15-12 lead. Northwest did not trail the rest of the half.
Sharniece Lewis led the way for the Griffons scoring six points making two long range shots. The Griffons made just 1-of-4 free throws in the half.
Northwest was led by Maggie Marnin with nine points making 3-of-3 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws. The Bearcats outrebounded the Griffons 17 to 11 with Annie Mathews leading the way with five. Northwest made 10-of-20 field goals in the frame.
The Griffons stormed out of halftime on a mission tying the score at 33 after Clouser finished off an old fashioned three point play with 15:00 minutes to play. The two teams played close the next three minutes but a 7-0 run by the Griffons gave them the 47-40 lead after a JaQuitta Dever layup with 9:54 to play. The Griffons extended its lead to 64-55 after a long range shot from Sharniece Lewis with 3:08 to play.
The Bearcats did not go away going on 10-2 run cutting the Griffons lead to 66-65 after Marnin nailed her first three of the season with 24 second to play. A good free throw and a steal and layup by Dever gave the Griffons the 68-65 lead with three second to play. The Bearcats got a free throw late falling to 8-5 overall and 2-3 in MIAA play.
The Griffons shot 44.4-percent (24-54) in the game which included 15-of-30 in the second half. Howard scored 11 of her 16 points in the second frame while Alicia Bell and Dever dumped in 13 and 11 respectively. The Griffons dished out 13 with Lanicia Lawrence dishing out five.
The Bearcats were ed by Ashleigh Nelson with 26 points on 8-of-12 shooting and making 6-of-8 long range shots. Marnin finished with 14 points while Mathews had eight rebounds. The Bearcats made 21-of-49 field goals and 9-of-19 long range shots.
The Griffons dominated the bench points scoring 28 and had 21 points off 22 Bearcat turnovers.
The Griffons return to action on Wednesday, January 16 when they host MIAA newcomer Lindenwood University. Game time is set for 5:30 pm in the MWSU Fieldhouse. If you can’t make it to the game listen to all the action on 680 AM KFEQ or follow live stats on gogriffons.com.
— MWSU Sports Information —