By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A four-point third quarter prevented Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team from picking up a road win at Northeastern State. The Bearcats lost 50-35 Saturday afternoon at NSU Event Center.
The cold-shooting quarter ruined a gritty effort by the Bearcats late in the second quarter that allowed Northwest to pull within three points at halftime.
Northeastern State scored the first six points in the third quarter and built a 29-20 lead. Two free throws by freshman Arbrie Benson put the Bearcats on the scoreboard in the second half.
The RiverHawks scored the next three. But Northwest was still in the game. The Bearcats went into the fourth quarter trailing 32-24.
Hopes of a road win were dashed in the first couple of minutes in the fourth when Northeastern State scored five straight points for a 37-24 lead. The Bearcats never scored more than 11 points in any of the four quarters.
It was just one of those games when the shots didn’t fall for Northwest.
“At the start the game we were getting any look we wanted to, but because the shots weren’t falling, that took them out of the game on the other end of the floor,” Northwest coach Buck Scheel said. “If one thing is going bad on one end of the floor, you can’t let it happen on the other end.”
Northwest now has a week between games. The Bearcats will conclude the regular season with three straight home games, starting 1:30 p.m. Feb. 20 against rival Missouri Western.
Northwest did a great job going into halftime trailing only 23-20. Throughout the first quarter and into the second quarter, the Bearcats put up good shots, but they kept rimming out.
The cold start allowed Northeastern State to build a 23-11 lead late in the second quarter. With a few minutes left until halftime, shot finally started falling for Northwest.
It started with a basket from senior Tember Schechinger followed by a strong drive to the basket for a layup from freshman Arbrie Benson. The second quarter concluded with another field goal from Schechinger and then a three-pointer from Schechinger. Schechinger finished with 13 points.
As it turned out, the first half was statistically the same for both teams. Northwest shot 32.1 percent from the field, going nine for 28. Northeastern State was nine for 29 from the field for 31.0 percent. On the boards, Northwest held the advantage, outrebounding the RiverHawks 24-17.
“I told them the biggest thing for us was it wasn’t necessarily just the missed shots, from the get go we had low energy, our effort wasn’t there across the board and our focus wasn’t there.
“I told them before the game that this was a game we had to get. Situations like that you have to have people step up, and we didn’t have anybody step up.”
— Northwest Athletics —