A historical upset wasn’t in the cards for the No. 8 seeded Missouri Western women as they fell 80-63 to the No. 1 Washburn Lady Blues in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament.

Behind tough defense and red-hot shooting, the Griffons broke out to an early 18-7 lead. The Lady Blues then followed up their sluggish start with a 23-0 run jumping ahead, 30-19. Washburn held the Griffons scoreless for 11 minutes, before the Griffons were able to end the half on a 9-2. Western went into the halftime locker room down 43-34. Jessica Koch made her first four buckets of the game on the way to 18 first half points. Abby Stone tied a career high with four blocked shots in the first half. She finished with six for the game.

Western shot 34 percent from the field in the half. Washburn was aided by 53.8 percent first half shooting from three-point range. Washburn went to the line 15 times in the first frame, making 10 for a 66 percent performance. The Griffons were 1-2 from the charity stripe.

In the second half, it was all Lady Blues, with the margin never less than eight points. The Lady Blues shot 44 percent from the field in the game, compared to Western’s 38 percent. The Griffons struggled inside on the glass and were outrebounded 46-30.

Koch leaves as Western’s all-time leading scorer, finishing the game with 25 to stretch the points record to  1,776. She had a career best six three pointers in the game.  Ashleigh Curry finished with 10 points and seven rebounds while Kallie Schoonover scored 11 points.

Western ended the season with a 7-20 overall record.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Two Missouri Western women’s basketball players earn All-MIAA honors as announced Monday by the league office. Jessica Koch was selected to the first team while Alicia Bell earned honorable mention.

Koch, a first team selection had an outstanding season for the Griffons. She is 4th in the nation and leads the MIAA in scoring, averaging 21.9 points per game. She broke the all-time scoring record which was 1,750 points by Lisa Hughes. Koch now has 1,751 in her career. She also holds records for free throws made with 391. She is second in free throws attempted (520), field goals made (607) and field goals attempted (1,371). She is fourth in assists with 383 and seventh in three point field goals made with 146.

This season she scored in double figures in 25 of 26 games and scored 20 or more points 12 times and over 30 points four times. She collected three double-doubles and scored a career high 38 points against Southwest Baptist on a career best 17-of-28 shooting. She also made 10 or more free throws five times including a career best 14-of-15 against Central Missouri.

Koch ranks first in the MIAA in scoring (21.9), 13th in rebounds (6.6), 8th in field goal percentage (43.5), 6th in assists (3.4), 5th in free throw percentage (78.6), 1st in steals (2.9), 10th in 3-point field goals made (1.6), 12th in blocked shots (0.9), 9th in assist/turnover ratio (0.9), 5th in defenisve rebounds (5.2) and 1st in minutes played (36.4).

Bell, an honorable mention selection has been solid all season long averaging 8.2 point and 6.3 rebonds per game. She averages 4.1 assists per game and 1.5 steals. She scored in double figures 11 times including 19 against her former team Northwest Missouri State. She collected two double-doubles and dished out seven assists four times this season. She is 4th in the MIAA in assists (4.1), 8th in steals (1.5), 1st in assist/turnover ratio (2.2), 3rd in offenisve rebounds (2.9) and 2nd in minutes played (33.0).

The Griffons are the 8th seed in the MIAA women’s tournament and will take on the No. 1 seed Washburn Lady Blues on Thursday, March 1. Tip is set for 12:00 pm in Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western baseball team (4-3) used some dramatics and a strong dose of offense to sweep the day two double header from Nebraska-Kearney.

Game 1: MWSU 3, UNK 2

Pinch hitter Bubba Dotson hit a walk off double in the bottom of the seventh scoring Michael Schulze from third and Shawn Egge from first giving Western a 3-2 come from behind victory over the Lopers. Schulze led off the inning with a doulbe and then advanced to third on a bunt single by Egge setting up Dotson’s heroics.

Things looked good for the Griffons in the first getting singles by Egge and David Chew. Unfortunatley they would be stranded on base. The Lopers scored the frist run of the game in the fourth when Erik Montes homered to left field off Griffon pitcher Nik Jurado.

Western left three more runners on in the fourth and one in the fifth before Western got on the board. Nate Ramler led off the sixth innning with his second home run off the season tying the score at one. Jurado got out of a jam in the seventh and got the win with the walk off. Jurado went all seven giving up one earned run and four hits while striking out four. He improves to 1-0 on the season.

The Lopers had four hits with Eric Ringblom getting two. Mike Nowak started the game going 4.1 innings with two hits while walking five. Mike Loseke pitched 1.2 innings in relief giving up five hits and three earned runs. Loseke falls to 0-2 with the loss.

Game 2: MWSU 12, UNK 5

After falling behind 1-0 in the second inning, the Griffons scored three runs each in the third, fifth and sixth innings on the way to a 12-5 drubbing of the Lopers. Western added two more in the seventh and one in the eighth.

A Jake Graham double in the fourth brought  Bubba Dotson and Nate Ramler in to put the Griffons up for good. Grant Fink’s Double Bubble double in the fifth plated Michael Schulze and Shawn Egge.

Spencer Shockley led off the Griffon seventh with an inside the park home run to left-center field after Alex Miller’s foot got caught under the fence in center field. Five of Western’s 12 hits were doubles and eight of 12 runs were earned.

Mason Queen (1-0) picked up the win for Western, going 5 1/3 with seven hits allowed and two runs. Queen struck out three, walked none, but did hit two Loper batters. Logan Hollingsworth surrendered two earned runs on four hits in relief of Queen. Jake Jones relieved Hollinsworth and allowed two hits and an unearned run in 3 2/3 innings of work.

Kyle Simpson finished 3-5 with two RBI, Graham, Fink and Ramler added two RBI’s each.

Western hits the road next week for an early test in the MIAA. The Griffons land in Warrensburg to face off with No. 3 Central Missouri. The Griffons and Mules will play one Friday, March 2, a double-header on Saturday and close the series with one game on Sunday.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Missouri Western senior forward Jessica Koch from Kansas City, Mo. became Missouri Western’s all-time leading scorer on a free throw with 2:29 to play in an 86-69 victory over Southwest Baptist. Koch has 1,751 career points which is one better than previous record holder Lisa Hughes. With the victory the Griffons make the MIAA tournament on Thursday, March 1st against Washburn at 12:00 pm in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. Last season Western fell 58-55 in the first round of the tournament.

Fighting for a post season spot in the MIAA tournament the Griffons came out on fire shooting 64.3-percent (18-28) from the field in the opening frame. They sank 9-of-14 long range shots with senior Brittany Casady connecting on four three’s for 14 points in the half.

Senior’s Ashleigh Curry and Koch dumped in 16 and 11 points respectively for Western.

The first half was never close as the Griffons jumped out to a 20-9 lead at the 12:35 mark of the first half after two Abby Stone free throws. Western continued the pressure outscoring the Bearcats 32-19 the rest of the way taking a 52-28 halftime lead. The 52 points is the highest point total in a half for Western this season.

Western outscored the Bearcats 16-8 in the paint and scored 12 points off 12 SBU turnovers. SBU shot just 34.4-percent (11-32) from the field as LaKendra Smith led the way with 11 points.

The Bearcats opened up the second half scoring the first nine points cutting the Griffon lead to 54-39 with 16:43 to play.

The Griffons remained calm pushing their lead to 20 once again after Koch’s lay-up with 12:27 to play. The Bearcats could not get any closer than 15 the rest of the game as the Griffons held a 27 point lead at 72-45.

The Griffons finished outscoring the Bearcats 30-22 in the paint and had 20 points off 20 Bearcat turnovers. Casady finished with a career high 18 points while Koch and Curry finished with 24 and 20 respectively. Western improves to 7-19 overall and 5-15 in MIAA play.

The Bearcats were led by Smith wih 21 points while Brittney Dukes dumped in 17. The Bearcats end its season 9-17 overall and 4-16 in MIAA play.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western men’s basketball team wrapped up their season with a convincing 78-58 victory over the Southwest Baptsit Bearcats on Senior Day in the fieldhouse. Western finished their season 9-17 overall and 4-16 in MIAA play.

The first half saw six ties and five lead changes with the Griffons outscoring the Bearcats 26-17 the final 12:32 claiming the 4132 halftime lead. Western shot 52-percent (13-25) from the field with Lavonte Douglas pitching in 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting. TJ Johnson dumped in 10 on 3-of-4 while the Griffons scored 12 points in the paint.

The Bearcats were led by Ryan Dougherty with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting including going 3-for-3 from long range. The Bearcats made 11 field goals with six being from long range.

Western dominated the second half holding the Bearcats to just 26 points on 9-of-30 shooting in the frame. The Griffons made 53.8-percent (14-26) of their second half field goals scoring 37 points. Western shot 52.9-percent for the game with Douglas dumping in a career high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting. He also snared nine rebounds.

Johnson scored 12 points while Alex Tuluka-Mfumupembe dumped in 12 making 4-of-7 three point shots.

The Bearcats fell to 18-11 overall and 11-9 in MIAA play. They shot just 35.1-percent (20-57) from the field with Dougherty dumping in 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Preston Guiot finished with 16.

— MWSU Sports Information —