ST. JOSEPH – Griffon men’s basketball (3-8) won its final exhibition game of the season Tuesday night 96-80 against Livin’ The Dream. It is the last home game for Missouri Western until January 11.

Livin’ The Dream opened the game on a 5-0 run for an early lead. Later in the first half, LTD used a 6-0 run to take a 12-point lead with 13:09 left in the first half. Missouri Western countered the run with 11 straight points to cut the lead to one. An 8-0 run to close the half gave MWSU the lead at halftime and they would never trail again.

NOTABLES
– MWSU won its fourth straight game against Livin’ The Dream

– The Griffons used a 19-0 run to extend its lead to 16 with 16:42 left in the second half

– Missouri Western outscored Livin’ The Dream 36-7 over a 14:20 minute span in the game

– MWSU overcame a 12-point deficit in the first half

– Missouri Western had six players score in double-digits

– Alex Martin led the Griffons with 19 points

UP NEXT
Missouri Western plays its next game on January 3 at Pittsburg State with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – For just the fourth time in the last three seasons, the Missouri Western women’s basketball team (9-3) lost back-to-back games, falling 77-68 to Truman State (7-2), Tuesday night in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

A 6-2 MWSU spurt late in the fourth quarter pulled the Griffons within four (72-68) with one minute to go in the game. Truman State scored the next seven points of the game, three of those points coming on free throws to ice the Griffons’ first consecutive losses involving a non-conference opponent since March, 2016.

NOTABLES
– The loss was the Griffons’ first this season in the MWSU Fieldhouse (7-1)

– Cera Ledbetter finished with her first double-double as a Griffon with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was Ledbetter’s third consecutive double-digit scoring effort

– KeShara Scott led the Griffons with 12 rebounds and is averaging 9.8 per game over the last four games

– Savannah Lentz tied a career high with five three-pointers (5-12) in the game

– Four Griffons scored in double-figures (Lent-16, Brittany Atkins-16, Melia Richardson-13 and Ledbetter)

– Missouri Western out-rebounded Truman State 37-33 and shot close to 44 percent from the field

– The Griffons tied a season-high with six blocks in the game

– Truman State shot better than 47 percent from the field and scored 42 of its points in the paint

UP NEXT
Missouri Western plays its last non-conference game of the season Dec. 30 when the Griffons host Quincy.

— MWSU Athletics —

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team lost its second conseucitve game as they fell at Central Missouri Thursday 67-51.

The Griffons drop to 3-8 this season and 1-3 in the MIAA.

MWSU led 13-12 nine minutes into the game, but the Mules ended the half on a 22-6 run to build a 34-19 halftime lead and the Griffs never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

NOTABLES
– MWSU outrebounded UCM by five, it is the third time in the last four game the Griffons finished even or better for rebounding margin

– Missouri Western used a 9-3 run in first five minutes of the game for an early 11-7 lead

– Bryan Hudson connected on an old-fashioned three-point play at 5:49 in the first half to snap a 9-0 UCM run

– Seth Bonifas scored the Griffons first six points in the second half and sparked a 12-2 run

– Central Missouri shot 53.3 percent from the field, the highest allowed by Missouri Western this season

UP NEXT
Missouri Western returns to the MWSU Fieldhouse on Tuesday, Dec. 19 for an exhibition game against Livin’ The Dream. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The Griffon women’s basketball (9-2, 3-1) win streak ended at six games following a 70-48 loss at No. 10 Central Missouri, Thursday night.

One bad quarter turned the game in the Jennies’ favor. A 25-24 Central Missouri lead at the half, the Jennies outscored MWSU 28-7 in the third quarter to pull away from the upset minded Griffons. The first half featured five ties and eight lead changes. Central Missouri led for the entire second half.

NOTABLES
The Griffons’ first loss since Nov. 18 (80-53 at #7 Drury)

– Missouri Western was held to a season-low 34 percent (18-53) from the field

– Central Missouri shot 66.7 percent from the field in the third and fourth quarters

– After forcing 13 UCM turnovers in the first half, the Griffons forced two in the second half

– Melia Richardson led MWSU with 13 points

– Dossou Ndiaye had a team-high six rebounds and scored 12 points

– Cera Ledbetter had her second-straight double-digit scoring effort with 11 points

UP NEXT
The Griffons again step away from MIAA play with a non-conference game against Truman State (6-2) at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Missouri Western volleyball finished No. 25 in the AVCA Division II Coaches poll. MWSU made its first appearance of the season in the final poll.

Concordia-St. Paul, who defeated Missouri Western in the regional semifinal, finished atop of the polls after winning its second straight national championship and ninth in the last 11 seasons.

The Griffons knocked off both Nebraska Kearney and Central Oklahoma twice on the season. UNK finished ninth and UCO ended at 18th in the final poll.

MWSU was ninth out of 11 teams from the Central Region that were either ranked or received votes. For the season, Missouri Western played five ranked teams and two teams who received votes in the final ranking.

The Griffons won 19 of their final 23 matches, a share of the MIAA regular season championship and advanced to the NCAA Central Region semifinals despite not being ranked all season. For the complete AVCA Coaches Poll, click here.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team (9-1) out-scored Peru State (3-8) 79-28 over the final three quarters for the Griffons’ sixth-straight victory on Sunday evening.

Missouri Western improved to 7-0 this season in the MWSU Fieldhouse with the 99-44 win. It was the most points scored by the Griffons since scoring 99 against Haskell on Dec. 19, 2016.

NOTABLES
– Six Griffons scored in double-figures, led by Cera Ledbetter’s season-high 18

– KeShara Scott tied an MWSU record with nine steals, finishing one steal short of a triple-double. Her 16 rebounds tied the third most ever by a Griffon.

– Mania Timson led the Griffons with a career-high seven assists

– Missouri Western forced 36 turnovers, scoring 51 points off turnovers and accumulating 21 steals

– The Griffons scored 33 second chance points while allowing three

– Missouri Western out-scored Peru State 48-8 in the paint and the Griffon bench out-scored Peru State’s 45-8
– The 92 attempted field goals by the Griffons were an MWSU record

UP NEXT
Missouri Western returns to conference play on Thursday, Dec. 14 with a trip to No. 10 Central Missouri (6-1, 1-0).

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team (3-7,1-2 MIAA) lost to No. 1 Northwest Missouri (9-0, 3-0 MIAA) in the MWSU Fieldhouse Wednesday 74-60

MWSU opened the game by scoring the first five points and led for the first three minutes of the game. The Bearcats answered the early Griffon run with a 13-2 run as Missouri Western couldn’t quite chip away enough to lead the game again.

NOTABLES
– MWSU had three players score in double figures led by Lavon Hightower’s 15 points

– Hightower scored in double figures for the seventh time this season

– Missouri Western used a 10-4 run over a 3:54 span in the first half to cut the Northwest Missouri lead down to one

– The Bearcats forced 15 Griffon turnovers

– The Griffons outshot their opponent from the field in back-to-back games

UP NEXT
Missouri Western travels to Central Missouri on Dec. 14 for a 7:30 p.m. game in Warrensburg, Missouri.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team (8-1, 3-0) ran its win streak to five games with a dominating 77-48 win over rival Northwest Missouri (1-8, 0-3).

The Griffons jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back, leading 23-7 after the first quarter of play. It was the seventh win in a row in the series for Missouri Western, last losing to Northwest Missouri on Feb. 5, 2014.

NOTABLES
– Four Griffons scored in double-figures: Brittany Atkins and Erin Anderson with 14 each and Dossou Ndiaye and Savannah Lentz with 10 each

– Missouri Western out-rebounded the Bearcats by 10 (41-31)

– MWSU out-scored Northwest 44-16 in the paint

– KeShara Scott had a team-high nine rebounds along with eight points

– Missouri Western held Northwest Missouri to 28.8% shooting from the field

– The Griffons led for the entire game, leading by as many as 30 points with 19 seconds to go

– With the win, Missouri Western was alone in first place in the MIAA standings at 3-0 in conference play

UP NEXT
Missouri Western steps out of MIAA play this Sunday, Dec. 9 to host Peru State in the MIAA Fieldhouse for a 6 p.m. tip-off.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Griffon basketball (3-6) won its first MIAA game of the season with a 70-66 win over Northeastern State (3-5) in the MWSU Fieldhouse. Missouri Western received 37 points from its bench in the win.

Missouri Western had a nine-point lead at halftime but was outscored by five in the second half. NSU’s only lead of the second half came with 13:16 left in the game and only lasted 56 seconds as MWSU answered with a 5-0 run. The Griffons led for over 15 minutes in the second half and nearly 30 minutes for the game.

NOTABLES
– Wes Mitter scored a career-high 17 points off the bench for the Griffons, prior to the game he scored 11 points all season

– MWSU outscored NSU 29-11 over a 14 minute stretch in the first half

– The Griffons hit 11 three-pointers in the game, it’s the third time this season they made 10 or more

-Missouri Western shot better from the field than its opponent for the first in three games

– Lavon Hightower had 18 points in the win and has led MWSU in scoring for two of the last three games

UP NEXT
Missouri Western continues its homestand on Wednesday, Dec. 6 against No. 1 Northwest Missouri in the MWSU Fieldhouse. Tip-off for the rivalry game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – It was far from easy, but Rob Edmisson earned his 500th win as a collegiate head coach when his Griffon women’s basketball team (7-1, 2-0) defeated Northeastern State (4-3, 1-1) Saturday afternoon in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

A tie game with 37 seconds left, the Griffons scored the final four points of the game on 4-of-4 shooting at the free throw line to secure a 64-60 victory. Northeastern State led by three with 9:09 to go, but the Griffons went on a 12-0 run that included two Savannah Lentz threes and four Northeastern State turnovers to open up a nine-point Griffon lead, 59-50. The RiverHawks answered with a 10-1 run that tied the game at 60. KeShara Scott made two free throws with 14 seconds left before a Northeastern State turnover. Brittany Atkins put the game away with two more free throws with six seconds left.

NOTABLES
– Edmisson moved to 500-161 in his 22nd year as a collegiate head coach. He is 96-53 at Missouri Western after going 212-31 at Oklahoma City and 192-89 at Hutchinson Community College.

– Lentz finished with a season and game-high 12 points. She was 4-6 from three-point range

– Atkins had 11 points, going 4-of-4 from the free throw line. She has made 18 consecutive shots from the line and is 39-of-42 on the season

– KeShara Scott led the Griffons with eight rebounds, the most in her brief Griffon career

– Erin Anderson led Missouri Western with five steals

– The Missouri Western defense limited Northeastern State to 27.3 percent field goal shooting in the fourth quarter after they had shot 46.2 in the first, 50 in the second and 37.5 in the third

– Missouri Western scored 21 points off RiverHawk turnovers while NSU scored two off five Griffon turnovers. Ten of NSU’s turnovers were steals by the Griffons

UP NEXT
Missouri Western plays the fifth of six-straight home games when the Griffons host Northwest Missouri (1-7, 0-2) on Wednesday, Dec. 6 for a 5:30 tip-off.

— MWSU Athletics —