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Author: Dave Riggert

Mizzou women earn No. 7 Seed in Greensboro Region, will face Drake in Iowa City

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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball is headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth consecutive season, earning a No. 7 seed in the Greensboro Region. Mizzou clinched its fourth consecutive berth to the Big Dance for the first time since 1983-86.

No. 7 Mizzou (23-10) will face No. 10 Drake (27-6) on Friday, March 22, in Iowa City. Tipoff is slated for approximately 3 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The winner will take on either No. 2 Iowa or No. 15 Mercer in the Second Round on Sunday, March 24.

With this season’s NCAA Tournament berth, Mizzou secured its 13th trip to the Big Dance, and the fourth under head coach Robin Pingeton. Mizzou’s No. 7 seed is its third-highest seeding in the NCAA Tournament since the field moved to 64 teams, trailing its No. 5 seed in 2018 and No. 6 seed in 2017. Mizzou also held a No. 3 seed in 1982 and a No. 4 seed in 1983 and 1984 when the field featured 32 teams.

It will be the fifth matchup between Mizzou and Drake, as the Bulldogs currently hold a 3-1 advantage in the all-time series. Mizzou is 1-5 all-time against Iowa and 0-0 against Mercer.

— Mizzou Athletics —

Missouri Western softball splits doubleheader with UCM

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ST. JOSEPH – One big inning lifted Griffon Softball (13-12, 2-4) to a win in its home debut, but a big inning by Central Missouri (10-8, 1-1) in game two left Missouri Western with a series split.

The Griffons jumped out to a big lead then held on for a game one win while it was UCM coming back on MWSU in game two.

GAME 1
Missouri Western 8, Central Missouri 6

  • The Griffons scored seven runs in the third to stake an 8-1 lead
  • MWSU batted 12 and prompted two UCM pitching changes in the third
  • UCM didn’t go away, chipping away at the lead and leaving runners on second and third to end the game
  • Cassidy Kelsheimer went 3-for-3 in the game with a double, an RBI and a run scored
  • Taylor Hoelscher hit a two-run home run, doubled and was 2-for-4 at the plate
  • Brea Blanton went 2-for-3
  • Sydni Hawkins was 2-for-4 with two runs scored
  • Kaili Hinds improved to 7-3 with the win on six-plus innings pitched
  • Olivia Goodale pitched a scoreless seventh to earn her third save of the season

GAME 2
Central Missouri 6, Missouri Western 3

  • The Griffons had the bases loaded with two out for Kelsheimer in the bottom of the seventh, but a ground out gave UCM the win
  • MWSU led 3-0 after three innings, but UCM got two in the fourth and four in the fifth to take the 6-3 lead
  • The Jennies got a two-run home run from Mackenzie McAtee after a pitching change in the fifth before Goodale got two of the next three batters to ground out
  • All three of the Griffons’ runs came via home runs
  • Kelsheimer homered and doubled in game two, going 2-for-4 at the plate
  • Brea Blanton hit a two-run home run in the third and was 2-for-4 in the game

UP NEXT

  • Missouri Western stays home to host Northwest Missouri (3-9, 0-4) in a re-scheduled doubleheader March 20 at 4 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

Western men’s golf in third, McCarthy tied for lead at Washburn Invite

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TOPEKA, Kan. – Missouri Western Men’s Golf began play in its first competition of the spring season at the Washburn Invitational on Monday. Patrick McCarthy is tied for the lead and the Griffons are third in the team standings after the first two rounds on the tournament.

Missouri Western sits in third after a combined team score of 301 in the first round and 302 in the second. The Griffons are just two strokes back of Concordia – St. Paul for second place. Washburn played an impressive first two rounds and holds a significant 14-stroke lead over the rest of the field.

McCarthy tied for first over the first two rounds after shooting a 69 (-2) in the first round and a 74 (+3) in the second. His first-round score of 69 also tied for the best single-round score of the day. McCarthy was consistent throughout the day, leading the field with 25 pars. He also shot an impressive two-under on par-five holes and totaled five birdies over the two rounds.

Also landing in the top-10 for the Griffons was Jett Simmons, whose combined score of 150 (+8) ties him for ninth place heading into Tuesday. Simmons finished with 23 pars, with his best round coming in the first when he shot a 74 (+2).

Tom Buffington was next on the individual leaderboards for Missouri Western. Buffington struggled early on Monday, shooting an 80 (+8) in the first round. However, Buffington bounced back for a score of 74 (+2) in the second round.

Lucas Horseman and Axel Johansson both shot a 159 to tie for 31st after the first two rounds.

Missouri Western Men’s Golf will continue play in Topeka on Tuesday morning.

— MWSU Athletics —

Northwest’s Witthus earns Central Region First Team honors

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Northwest Missouri State University senior Joey Witthus has earned NCAA Division II Central Region First-Team honors from the Conference Commissioners Association.

Redshirt freshman Trevor Hudgins also earned second-team all-region status.

The award is voted upon by College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) from the region. The Central Region consists of 42 men’s basketball teams from the Northern Sun (16 teams), Mid-America (14 teams) and Great American (12 teams) conferences.

Witthus is averaging a team-best 21.7 points per game and shooting 51.2 percent from the field. Witthus has buried an-MIAA high 107 three-pointers (one away from the Northwest single-season record of 108 set by Zach Schneider in 2016-17), and he is shooting 45.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc. Witthus leads Northwest in free throws made (150) and his shooting 84.7 percent from the free throw line. The senior from Chanhassen, Minnesota scored a career-high 39 points in Northwest’s 91-62 NCAA first-round win over Minnesota State. Witthus has been named the MIAA Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player at the 2019 MIAA Tournament.

Hudgins, the MIAA freshman of the year, is scoring 18.6 points per game and handing out 5.4 assists per game. Hudgins is shooting 53.9 percent from the field, including 48.1 percent from three-point range. Hudgins is making 82.8 percent of his free throws and tied the all-time MIAA record for consecutive free throws made at 36. Hudgins has scored 20 or more points 17 times this season. He has set the Northwest and MIAA freshman scoring record with 631 points.

NCAA Division II Central Region FIRST TEAM
Joey Witthus, Northwest Missouri State
Gage Davis, St. Cloud State
Kevin Buckingham, Southeastern Oklahoma State
Ryan Bruggeman, Southwest Minnesota State
Cam Martin, Missouri Southern State

NCAA Division II Central Region SECOND TEAM
Harrison Cleary, Minnesota Crookston
Trevor Hudgins, Northwest Missouri State
Trevon Evans, Sioux Falls
Jhonathan Dunn, Southern Nazarene
Javion Blake, Washburn

— Northwest Athletics —

MWSU’s Ong has the individual lead after day one of Holiday Inn Express Classic

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ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western Women’s Golf completed the first round of the Holiday Inn Express Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club on Monday. Shi Qing Ong leads the field of 82 while Missouri Western is positioned third going into Tuesday. Despite being in third place, the Griffons sit just three strokes back from Minnesota State on the team leaderboard.

Ong shot a 70 (-2) to dominate the competition on Monday. With the next closest golfer five strokes back, Ong put together the best single round score of her season. Ong led the entire field with a total of four birdies, and also separated herself with effective play on par-4 holes, finishing two-under par on those holes. Her 13 total pars gave her the second most in the round.

Less than one week after tying Ong for first place at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas, Anna Bech shot an 80 (+8) to land tied for 12th. Bech finished with the second-best round score on the team, earning nine pars and one birdie.

Chong Yong tied for 25th after shooting an 83 (+11) as she scored 10 pars on the day.

Jenna Kosmatka and Sabrina Galfano finished with scores of 84 and 85 respectively to round out the first-round scoring for Missouri Western.

The Griffons will tee off at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday for the second round of the Holiday Inn Express Classic.

Bearcats hold off Southern Nazarene, advance to Regional title against Southern

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MARYVILLE, Missouri – The No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball moved on to the NCAA Division II Central Region final with a 70-59 triumph over the Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm in front of a sold out Bearcat Arena.

Senior Joey Witthus led all scorers with 29 points as he made 10-of-16 shots from the field, including a trio of three-pointers.

Redshirt freshman Trevor Hudgins buried a lengthy shot-clock beating three with 1:04 remaining to put away the Crimson Storm. Hudgins tallied 16 points and seven rebounds in the victory.

The Bearcats gained momentum quickly against the Crimson Storm as they got out to a 14-5 advantage in the first six minutes of the game. From then it was a back and forth battle as SNU tried to make gains on the lead, but Northwest handled the push back.

Northwest held a 23-13 lead with 7:38 left in the first half when Southern Nazarene made a run. SNU pulled to within a single point at 24-23 with 4:03 remaining until halftime. Northwest responded with a 7-0 spurt to open it back up to an eight-point margin.

As the contest neared halftime, Witthus buried a triple that gave Northwest a 36-25 lead. But SNU’s Jhonathan Dunn sank a three-pointer to beat the buzzer to make it a 36-28 advantage at the break. It wasn’t soon after that Joey Witthus hit a three-pointer to put the Bearcats back up four and helped carry the momentum to halftime allowing Northwest to go up 36-28.

SNU hung around in the second half and cut the Bearcat lead to 58-53 with 3:51 to play. Hudgins then kept the Crimson Storm at bay by burying two free throws and pair of three-pointers to clinch the win – including the shot-clock beating bomb with just over a minute to play.

Northwest (34-0 overall) will take on MIAA foe Missouri Southern on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight in Evansville on March 27-30.

NOTES: Earlier this season, Northwest and Missouri Southern met in Bearcat Arena with the Bearcats scoring an 82-62 win on Feb. 2. … Hudgins set his career-high in rebounds with seven (he had six in the first half) … Northwest is 15-0 at home this season … over the past three seasons, Northwest is 96-5 overall … Northwest is 25-20 all-time in NCAA play.

— Northwest Athletics —

Griffons even series against Ichabods with 8-3 win Sunday

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ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western (10-8, 8-3 MIAA) scored the first three runs of the game and never looked back, as the Griffons baseball team took game two of their series with Washburn (9-11, 4-7 MIAA) by a score of 8-3 on Sunday afternoon.

On the mound and leading Missouri Western to the win was Anthony Castaneda. Castaneda improves to 5-0 on the season, allowing only one run in his seven innings pitched on Sunday.

NOTABLES

  • Jordan Jackson put the Griffons on the board in the top of the first, scoring Fahd Shakeel on a sacrifice fly to center field
  • With Missouri Western up 3-0 in the fifth inning, Andrew Curry’s double quickly turned into a run scored when Curry rounded all of the bases after a Washburn throwing error.
  • The Griffons capitalized off of another Washburn mistake when Fahd Shakeel rounded third after a throwing error to third base from the pitcher, giving Missouri Western the 5-1 advantage in the seventh inning.
  • The Griffons would tack on two more runs in the seventh, with all three of those runs coming without a hit reaching the outfield.
  • Missouri Western scored three of its first four runs with two outs.
  • Josh Robinson’s pinch-hit single in the eighth inning drove in Brooks Day to give the Griffons their largest lead of the game at 8-1.
  • The Ichabods used a solo home run and a double to score the final two runs of the game in the eighth inning.

LEADERS

  • Castaneda struck out six batters and only allowed one run. He has now allowed no more than one run in five of his six starts this season.
  • Shakeel finished 3-for-4 with three singles, two runs, and an RBI.
  • Curry was the other Griffon with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
  • Jacob Cooper pitched 1.1 innings and allowed no hits.

UP NEXT

  • Missouri Western and Washburn will play the series-deciding game on Monday at 1:00 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

Northwest baseball salvages final game of series at Pitt State

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PITTSBURG, Kansas – The Northwest Missouri State baseball team completed the three-game series at Pittsburg State Sunday, knocking off the Gorillas by scoring eight unanswered runs and winning the game 9-1.

Stellar pitching by junior Joe Funkhouser, freshman Gibson Brown and freshman Max Ross contributed heavily to the victory for the Bearcats (10-12, 6-6 MIAA).
Funkhouser pitched five innings, allowing one run on six hits and striking out four. Brown pitched two and 2/3 innings, allowing just two hits and striking out four. Ross finished off the game on the mound for the Bearcats by not allowing a run in his one and 1/3 inning outing while striking out four Pittsburg State batters.

After a quiet first inning, both teams got on the board in the second inning scoring one run apiece.

Northwest notched five runs in the top of the fourth, initiated by sophomore Matt Gastner drawing a leadoff walk. Successful small ball play advanced Bearcat baserunners around the diamond, scoring five runs and only leaving one stranded.

The Bearcats added three more in the top of the sixth to increase their lead to 9-1 over the Gorillas. Northwest had four base hits in the inning.

Northwest improves to 10-12 on the season, while Pittsburg State falls to 12-10 on the year.

Northwest will be back in action Tuesday, March 22nd against Missouri Southern in Maryville (weather/field conditions permitting). Earlier in the season, the Lions defeated the Bearcats, 12-5.

— Northwest Athletics —

No. 4 seed Kansas to meet No. 13 seed Northeastern in Salt Lake City

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Picked as a No. 4 seed for the fifth time in program history, the Kansas men’s basketball team will make its 30th-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The nation’s longest-active streak and the best all-time will start against the No. 13-seed Northeastern Huskies in the Midwest Region at approximately 3 p.m. (CT) on Thursday, March 21, in Salt Lake City’s Vivint Smart Home Arena.

Kansas has posted a 25-9 record up to this point in the season and went 12-6 in Big 12 play, good for a third-place finish. The Jayhawks are coming off a run to the Big 12 Championship title game, which they lost, 78-66, to Iowa State. The unveiled bracket paired Kansas against Colonial Athletic Tournament champion Northeastern (23-10, 14-4) in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

This marks the 19th-straight season that the Jayhawks have earned a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament and the first time KU has been a No. 4 seed since 2006. In head coach Bill Self’s 16 seasons, KU has never been seeded lower than fourth. Kansas has been a No. 4 seed four times prior to this year (1994, 2001, 2004 and 2006). The Jayhawks are 7-4 all-time as a No. 4.

The Jayhawks and Huskies have never met in men’s basketball.

ABOUT KANSAS (25-8, 12-6 Big 12)
Overall, the Jayhawks are making their 48th NCAA Tournament appearance. KU is 107-46 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, including 31 Sweet 16 appearances and 15 trips to the Final Four.

The Jayhawks finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 25-9 record against the nation’s toughest schedule, which included eight victories against top-25 opponents. In conference tournament action, Kansas defeated Texas and West Virginia to advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship final against Iowa State. The Jayhawks fell to the Cyclones 78-68 in the championship game on March 16. Against the No. 1 RPI conference and the nation’s toughest schedule, Kansas collected 11 Quadrant 1 victories.

Kansas is one of six Big 12 Conference teams to earn an NCAA Tournament bid. The six teams are the fourth-most to be representing a conference in the tournament. In all, KU faced 14 NCAA Tournament teams in 2018-19.

Self guided his Jayhawks through a nonconference schedule that included Michigan State, Vermont, Marquette, Tennessee, Wofford, Villanova, New Mexico State, Arizona State and Kentucky, all tournament teams. Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Sporting News Second Team All-American Dedric Lawson is the team’s top scorer and rebounder, averaging a double-double at 19.1 ppg and 10.3 rpg.

ABOUT NORTHEASTERN (23-10, 14-4 CAA)
The Huskies head to the NCAA Tournament after claiming the Colonial Athletic Tournament title and finishing second in the CAA regular-season race with a 14-4 record.

Four Huskies score in double figures and are led by redshirt-senior guard Vasa Pusica, who scores 17.8 ppg. The All-CAA First Team selection shoots 49.7 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from 3-point range. Pusica is one of three Huskies to shoot better than 40 percent from beyond the arc. NU takes over 25 3-pointers per game and makes 9.8 per contest. Junior guard Brace Bolden is the team’s top rebounder at 6.0 per game and adds 10.0 ppg.

Northeastern is led by head coach Bill Coen. Coen is 224-96 in his 13th year in Boston.

Aside from a 14-4 conference slate, NU will enter postseason play in the midst of a seven-game winning streak, which includes wins in 12 of its last 13 outings. The Huskies’ last loss came on Feb. 16 in overtime at College of Charleston, 88-79.

— KU Athletics —

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