By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics
EMPORIA, Kan. – In the final five regular-season games, Northwest Missouri State’s women’s basketball team needs to find a way to duplicate Wednesday night’s second quarter for the entire game.
The Bearcats lost 76-62 to Emporia State at White Auditorium. But in the second quarter against a perennial power in the MIAA, the Bearcats showed what they are capable of doing.
“We knew coming in that it is hard to play here,” said senior Tanya Meyer. “They are a solid team. Being able to fight and show that fight the whole game after we got down quite a bit in the first quarter, I think that helps going into Saturday’s game. Being on the road (at Washburn), it is going to be another tough one, but we are ready for the competition.”
Against Emporia State, Meyer and freshman Jaelyn Haggard turned in performances worthy of all-conference consideration. Meyer finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds and Haggard had 23 points, four assists and four rebounds.
Northwest gave up 26 points in the first quarter and trailed by 14. The one bright spot for the Bearcats in the first 10 minutes was the scoring of Haggard, who knocked down three of four field goals and scored eight of her team’s 12 points.
The rest of the Bearcats fed off of Haggard’s energy in the second quarter and that sparked a dramatic turnaround. Although Northwest went into halftime down 38-32, the Bearcats jogged into the locker room knowing it could keep pace with Emporia State.
“I felt coming out of the first quarter, the wheels could fall off,” said Northwest coach Buck Scheel. “We didn’t do that. I was really happy the way our kids competed and cut the lead down to six.
“We had really good movement, for the most part, with the ball. We were getting some good stops defensively from everybody at different times, which is what you got to have against a team like that.”
The second-quarter surge started with a basket from Meyer, who turned up her game another notch. She scored 11 points in the second quarter.
Trailing 29-16, Northwest cut its deficit to single digits on a floater by Haggard followed by a basket by Meyer, making it 29-20.
“I think we came out in the second quarter really strong,” Haggard said. “The first quarter we had a pretty big gap between us and them, but we came out and fought. I am really proud of how hard we worked. We didn’t come out with a win, but I am proud the way we came out and grinded.”
Indeed.
A few minutes later, Haggard hit a long three-pointer that closed the gap to 31-23. Meyer then took over. A layup and a three-pointer by Meyer pulled Northwest to within five at 33-28. Northwest ended the first half on a running layup by Haggard.
“We were finding the open person on offense and not forcing up shots like we did in the first quarter,” Meyer said. “That helped us get that margin to six going into the second half.”
The Bearcats shot 56 percent from the field in the second quarter and held Emporia State to 31 percent. Meyer and Haggard combined for 28 points.
Unfortunately, Northwest’s defense wasn’t as tight in the third quarter and that hurt the Bearcats from making a push to get closer. Emporia State went 11 for 17 for a blistering 65 percent from the field in the third quarter.
Northwest shot the ball well in the third quarter, making eight of 14 shots for 57 percent. The Bearcats, though, were outscored 24-18 and that put them behind 12 points going into the final quarter. It was too much of a deficit for Northwest to make up in the final 10 minutes.
Sheel was pleased the way Haggard bounced back from Saturday’s game against Lindenwood.
“She wasn’t happy with that game,” Scheel said. “A lot of times, especially with freshmen, you don’t know how they are going to bounce back. She came in like it was another game and came out and competed.
“To have a freshman who is going through those bumps in the road and handling the learning curve of Division II as well as this conference, it is good to see.”
— Northwest Athletics —