By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The storybook ending for the Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team was coming into sharp focus. Senior Taylor Shull, playing her last game for the Bearcats, scored her team’s first seven points to start the fourth.

Three of those points came on an improbable layup followed by a made free throw on the and-1 play. Shull’s offensive outburst staked Northwest to a three-point lead in the fourth quarter against Southwest Baptist Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Arena.

Everything was set for seniors Shull, Tember Schechinger and Shelby Mustain to win their final game in a Northwest uniform.

Unfortunately, real life doesn’t always play along with a nice written script. Northwest started missing shots. Southwest Baptist started making them. Southwest Baptist scored the next 13 points for a 10-point lead and that carried it to a 57-49 victory.

“Throughout the game we were struggling to get a run going and to maintain a run,” Northwest coach Buck Scheel said. “Once it was stretched out, I knew it was going to be a major, uphill climb.”

Shull ended Southwest Baptist’s 13-0 run with a field goal, which gave her 18 points, a career-high for her.

“I honestly had no idea how many points I had,” Shull said. “We were down and we needed to put up points. It was our last game. We wanted to go out strong.”

Despite the loss, Northwest once again played hard throughout the game. The Bearcats held leads in each quarter.

“Our motto the whole season was energy, effort and attitude and what you can control,” Mustain said. “In the back of our minds, we knew this was our last go-around so we were going to leave it all on the court.”

Northwest played well enough to win a few more games if a few breaks would have gone its way. Just about every time the Bearcats stepped on the court, they played hard, and the main reason why was because of the leadership provided by Schechinger, Mustain and Shull.

“The effort and the attitude has been there all year, even more so after I took over” Scheel said. “These three bought in right away, and that gave all the other girls no choice but to buy in. There were days here and there when people weren’t on board and one of these three usually let them know.

“Everybody who has seen us play has watched us compete. That was the one thing about these three players was they never gave up on themselves and they never gave up on their teammates.”

They showed that spirit in the first half.

Northwest overcame at 9-0 run early in the second quarter and took a 21-19 lead into halftime.

The Bearcats started the second quarter with a three-pointer from Jasmine Howe for a 12-7 lead and then had trouble making a basket. Southwest Baptist took advantage of the offensive drought by Northwest and scored the next nine points for an 18-12 lead.

It was the only time that Southwest Baptist had any sustained success on offense. An inside basket by Mustain got the Bearcats back on track. Shull followed with a three-pointer and Schechinger put Northwest back in front 19-18 with two free throws. Northwest concluded a 9-0 run with a basket from Mustain.

— Northwest Athletics —