EMPORIA, Kan. – The best time to play the No. 1 ranked team in the regular season is the conference opener on the road. You might just shock the NCAA Division II world.

Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team surprised Emporia State in the first 10 minutes Wednesday evening at White Auditorium.

But after a competitive first half, Emporia State showed why it’s the No. 1 team in Division II.

The Hornets used their size, quickness and ability to make shots all over the court to beat Northwest 80-44.

Northwest dropped to 3-5 overall and Emporia State improved to 6-0. Senior Ariel Easton led Northwest with 13 points.

The reason why it was good for the Bearcats to face one of the best teams in the country so early in the season was because they can clearly see what they need to work on to beat the elite.

The final score was no indication on how well the Bearcats played through much of the first half.

However, the first 10 minutes of the second half was like a math student going into an advance calculus test with only pre-algebra knowledge.

Emporia State outscored the Bearcats 31-4 over those 10 minutes for a commanding 70-33 lead. The young Bearcats simply didn’t have an answer to slow Emporia State in any facet of the game.

Instead of dwelling on those minutes, Northwest should focus on what they did right in the first 10 minutes of the game.

In those 10 minutes, Northwest belonged on the same court with the No. 1 ranked team in the country.

The Bearcats fell behind 7-4 in the opening minutes and quickly fought back. A bucket by Tanya Meyer helped Northwest close to one and then Tember Schechinger put the Bearcats up 8-7 on a basket.

Northwest held a 15-12 lead on another field goal by Schechinger. It was at that point Emporia State started looking like a top-ranked team. The Hornets went on an 11-0 run and took a 23-15 lead.

The Bearcats showed enough fight in the closing minutes to keep the game somewhat close. When Emporia State built a 26-17 lead, Northwest pulled to 26-21.

Still, Emporia State had a bit too much firepower for Northwest to keep its deficit under double digits. Two free throws by Kelsey Barnwell near the end of the first half gave the Hornets a 39-28 lead at halftime.

Northwest basically had offense from two sources in the first half. Easton scored 12 points and Schechinger added eight.

— David Boyce, Northwest Sports Information —