ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team (21-7, 13-6) came back from an eight-point deficit to defeat Lindenwood (12-15, 7-12) 64-56 Saturday and earn a bye in the first round of the MIAA Tournament.

A 16-0 Lindenwood run Missouri Western down 31-23 with 7:20 to go in the third quarter, but the Griffons answered with a 20-9 run to regain the lead and never relinquished it.

The Griffons will open the MIAA Tournament Friday, March 3 at 8:30 p.m. versus the winner of Northwest Missouri at Central Oklahoma. The Griffons earned the four-seed Saturday by virtue of their victory and Central Oklahoma’s loss at Emporia State.

NOTABLES
– The Griffons shot 62.5% from the field in the fourth quarter after shooting just 23.5% in both the second and third quarters

– Missouri Western out-scored Lindenwood 28-18 in the fourth quarter

– MWSU forced 28 Lindenwood turnovers

– The Grifffons scored 31 points off turnovers, to 11 for Lindenwood

– It was the final home game for seniors: Chelsea Dewey, Krystal Cohrn, Sefulu Faavae, Dwanisha Tate and Julia Torres

TOP PERFORMERS
– Julia Torres led all scorers with a career-high 25 points

– Dwanisha Tate had a team-high nine rebounds and added 10 points

– Chelsea Dewey had a team-high seven assists to go with her six points

– Sefulu Faavae led the Griffons with four steals and scored six points

UP NEXT
The Griffons await the winner of the Northwest Missouri State at Central Oklahoma game. Missouri Western will face the winner Friday night at 8:30 p.m. inside Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team lost its season finale Saturday inside the MWSU Fieldhouse 67-65 to Lindenwood. The Griffons lost their final nine games of the season as they finish 7-21 and 3-16 in the MIAA.

NOTABLES
– MWSU went on a 7-0 run to take a 65-64 lead with nine seconds left but Lindenwood’s Jackson Price hit a three-pointer with just 3.5 seconds remaining to clinch the win

– The Griffons shot 62.5 percent from the three-point line in the second half

– Missouri Western went a perfect 8-8 at the free-throw stripe

– The Lions won the rebounding margin 33-31

– LWU shot 40.9 percent from the three-point arc after going just 1-11 in the first half

TOP PERFORMERS
– Cole Clearman netted 16 points and went 6-9 from the field

– Aaron Emmanuel finished his final game as a Griffon with 15 points and five rebounds

– Lindenwood’s Chandler Diekvoss scored 23 points with eight rebounds and four blocks

— MWSU Athletics —

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Missouri Western baseball team (4-7) hit four home runs off the 2016 MIAA Pitcher of the Year and won its MIAA opener 8-6 at Washburn (8-4) on Saturday.

NOTABLES
– Missouri Western hit four home runs off Nick Silva, the 2016 MIAA Pitcher of the Year

– Jeremy Alvarado hit two of the home runs

– Nick Gawley broke and MWSU single game record with five stolen bases

– Washburn led 3-2 after three innings, but Missouri Western scored the next six runs

– Missouri Western drew 12 walks in the game, and had 11 hits

– The win snapped a three-game skid for the Griffons

TOP PERFORMERS
– Alvarado homered twice, went 2-2 at the plate with three RBIs, three runs scored and three walks

– Nick Gawle was 4-4 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored

– David Glaude was 3-5 at the plate with a home run and two runs scored

– Logan Marston went 2-4 at the plate with a solo home run and a walk

– Richard Peoples pitched 8.1 innings and struck out seven Washburn batters

UP NEXT
The two teams continue the series with game two scheduled to start at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Topeka.

— MWSU Athletics —

LAIE, Hawaii – The Missouri Western softball team (15-3) ran its winning streak to eight with a doubleheader sweep at BYU-Hawaii (1-9) on Saturday.

The Griffons took game one, 4-3, and game two, 7-3.

NOTABLES
– Missouri Western totaled 19 hits over the two games with four doubles and two home runs

– Shelbie Atwell hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to drive in what would prove to be the winning run

– The Griffons are three games better through 18 games than the 2016 team that went 45-13

– Griffon pitchers allowed just one extra base hit

TOP PERFORMERS
– Shelby Uhl batted .857 (6-7) in the doubleheader with her first career home run, an RBI and three runs scored

– Rebekah Mueller went 3-6 at the plate in the doubleheader with a double and a run scored

– Atwell was 3-7 on the day with a double, an RBI and two runs scored

– Katie Klosterman was 3-8 with a home run and two runs scored

– Kenzie Hilzer picked up the win game two and a save in game one, pitching eight innings on the day and allowing just three earned runs

UP NEXT
Missouri Western stays in Hawaii for one more doubleheader on Tuesday at Hawaii Pacific (4-2).

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team picked up its 20th win of the season with one of its most convincing victories of the season.

The Griffons led for more than 36 minutes of a 98-67 win over Lincoln. It was the second most points scored by the team this season and gave the program back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons.

NOTABLES
– Missouri Western shot 52.6 percent from the field on the night, 63 percent in the second quarter and 68 percent in the fourth quarter

– The Griffons out-scored Lincoln 54-16 in the paint and 33-18 off the bench

– A season-high, six Griffons scored in double figures

– MWSU limited Lincoln to just 37.9 percent shooting from the field, including just 23 percent in the fourth quarter

– The win, combined with Central Oklahoma’s win at Washburn, left Missouri Western alone in fifth place, one game behind UCO, in the MIAA standings

TOP PERFORMERS
– Dwanisha Tate led all scorers with 20 points and added a team-high eight rebounds

– Chelsea Dewey finished with a double-double, recording a career-high 11 assists to go with her 10 points

– Sefulu Faavae scored 16 points to go with her six assists

– Melia Richardson, Trudy Peterson and Dana Lewis each added 10 points

UP NEXT
The Griffons wrap the regular season Saturday against Lindenwood in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team (7-20, 3-15 MIAA) fell to Lincoln 78-67 in the MWSU Fieldhouse Thursday night.  The loss, combined with Northeastern State’s 69-65 win at Emporia State, means the Griffons are eliminated from making the MIAA Tournament and their season will end Saturday.

NOTABLES
–  The Griffons broke out to start the game on a 10-3 run

– Missouri Western carried a 31-27 lead into halftime

– A double technical allowed MWSU to push the lead to three in the second half; however it would be their last lead of the game.

– Lincoln used a 17-6 run at the 11:47 mark to take their final lead of the game

– The Blue Tigers scored 51 points in the second quarter, after being held to 27 in the first half

TOP PERFORMERS
– Seth Bonifas scored 17 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and grabbed eight rebounds

– Cole Clearman netted 15 points

– Anthony Virdure (33 points) and Jaylon Smith (20) combined for 53 points and 18 rebounds

UP NEXT
The Griffons wrap the regular season and honor the seniors on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Lindenwood (12-14, 7-11) in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – First-year Missouri Western softball pitcher Barbara Billingsley has racked up some honors after her third week of pitching for the Griffons.

The junior transfer was named MIAA Pitcher of the Week and Fastpitch News Pitcher of the Week after going 3-0 with a 0.95 ERA at the Arkansas Monticello 8-State Classic this past weekend.

Billingsley improved to 6-1 on the season with three wins in three starts, four appearances, over the weekend. She picked up wins over Minnesota State, Arkansas Tech and Minnesota Duluth, going the distance in all three games and shutting out Minnesota Duluth. In four appearances, Billingsley limited opposing batters to a .222 average, allowed just three runs and 18 hits in 22 innings pitched.

It’s the second weekly honor for Griffon softball already this season after Katie Klosterman was named MIAA Hitter of the Week after week one of the season. The Griffons are now 11-3 on the season.

— MWSU Athletics —

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – The Missouri Western softball team won both its Sunday games to close out the Arkansas-Monticello 8-State Classic.

The Griffons went 5-1 on the weekend to improve to 11-3 on the season, and now prepare for six game in Hawaii. Sunday, Missouri Western defeated Minnesota Duluth 2-0 and William Jewell 10-2 in five innings.

NOTABLES
– The Griffons hit .325 through the six games with 52 total hits, 30 runs, eight doubles, one triple and seven home runs

– Griffon pitchers went 5-1 with five complete games and a 2.10 ERA

– As a team, the Griffons batted .350 with 154 RBIs with two outs

– In Sunday’s win over William Jewell, the Griffons scored eight of their 10 runs with two outs

TOP PERFORMERS (Sunday)
– Rebekah Mueller batted .750 Sunday (3-4) with two doubles

– Paige Shifflett batted .667 Sunday (4-6) with two doubles and five RBIs

– Shelbie Atwell went 3-for-7 at the plate with a home run and three RBIs

– Sydney Washington was 3-for-7 with two runs scored

– Kailey Green went 2-for-5 at the plate with there runs scored and a home run

– Morgan Rathmann hit her first home run since 2015 against Minnesota Duluth

– Barbara Billingsley picked up her second shutout of the season in the Minnesota Duluth win

TOP PERFORMERS (Weekend)
– Washington went 11-for-22 with two doubles, a home run and five runs scored

– Atwell went 9-for-13 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs

– Shifflett led the team with seven RBIs, and batted .412

– Rathmann batted .400 on the weekend with a double, triple, hmoe run and was 4-4 stealing bases

– Billingsley went 3-0 with three complete games and a 0.95 ERA

UP NEXT
Missouri Western travels to Hawaii to play three doubleheaders against Division II competition.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s tennis team (2-3) fell to Arkansas Tech 5-0 in the MWSU Winter Invitational. This was the second match of the spring season for Missouri Western.

MWSU dropped the doubles matches, 3-0. In singles matches, Joanna Abreu Roman lost a tiebreaker in the first set, and dropped the match in the second set. When ATU clinched the match, The Griffons had two matches in the third set and one still in the first set.

Missouri Western’s second match of the day against Newman University was rescheduled to a later date. MWSU will be back in action on Sunday, Feb. 26 against Creighton University at Genesis Health Club with first serve set for 10 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

PITTSBURG, Kan. – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team fell at #7 Pittsburg State 74-58. The Griffons fall to 19-7 this season and 11-6 in the MIAA.

NOTABLES
– Pittsburg State shot 24-27 from the free-throw line, while Missouri Western was 5-8

– The Griffons made three more field goals than the Gorillas and shot 43 percent from the field

– Missouri Western forced PSU into 14 turnovers

– MWSU ended the third quarter on a 14-2 run to trail by one point heading into the final quarter

– The Gorillas started an 18-2 run with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter

– PSU outrebounded MWSU 41-25, including 16 offensive boards

TOP PERFORMERS
– Sefulu Faavae finished with 12 points, shooting 60 percent from the field

– Chelsea Dewey scored 11 points, dished out five assists and recorded only one turnover

– Madison Northcutt had 21 points and 15 rebounds for Pittsburg State

UP NEXT
Missouri Western returns to the MWSU Fieldhouse to host Lincoln at 5:30 p.m on Thursday, Feb 23.

— MWSU Athletics —