TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team played tenacious defense in the first half. The Bearcats came out focused. They just had one glaring problem Monday evening against Northeastern State at NSU Event Center.
Once again, Northwest struggled on offense. The Bearcats made only five field goals and scored 14 points in the first half. It put them a 15-point halftime deficit.
Northwest simply didn’t have enough firepower to dig out of that hole. The Bearcats lost 59-45, but they did outscore Northeastern 31-30 in the second half.
The first couple of minutes, Northwest played well enough to win. The first points came on a well-executed play in which the ball was fed inside to sophomore center Shelby Mustain, who scored, giving the Bearcats an early 2-0 lead.
The RiverHawks scored the next four points. Northwest recaptured the lead on a three-pointer by freshman Bailey Smith.
From all appearances, Northwest looked ready to battle the RiverHawks throughout the entire first half.
But the Bearcats went ice cold. Northeastern found some offensive rhythm and went on a 17-5 run for a 21-10 lead.
In the closing minutes, Northeastern drained two more three-pointers and took a 29-14 lead into halftime.
Instead of folding, the Bearcats showed plenty of grit in the final half of a long road trip by MIAA standards.
Northwest could have easily tossed in the towel on the fourth day away from Maryville. But a three-pointer by freshman Alexa Shaaf and field goals by Mustain and senior Ariel Easton in less than 2 minutes into the second half allowed the Bearcats to close to 29-21.
After the RiverHawks made a basket, Easton hit a three-pointer and suddenly Northwest was down seven at 31-24.
For the first 6 minutes of the second half, Northwest had its best offensive production of the season against MIAA competition. When junior Morgan Walker made a field goal at the 14:31 mark, Northwest trailed 34-28.
Unfortunately, the Bearcats could not sustain their offensive output. Northeastern went on a 15-4 run for a 49-32 lead.
Mustain finished the game with a double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down a career-best 12 rebounds. Easton added nine points and three assists.
— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —