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Griffons drop seventh straight as they come up short at Pittsburg State

riggertMissouriWesternPITTSBURG, Kan. – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team fell on the road to Pittsburg State 65-63. It is Missouri Western’s second consecutive one possession loss.

NOTABLES
– Pittsburg State’s Elijah Gaines scored the game-winning lay-up with four seconds remaining

– Aaron Emmanuel knocked down two free-throws to tie the game with 20 seconds left

– Missouri Western was 12-16 from the free-throw line

– Griffons were 6-11 from three-point in the first half but just 1-10 in the second half

– MWSU had four players score in double-figures

TOP PERFORMERS
– TJ Evans scored 19 points, he has now scored double  figures in 15 of the last 17 games

– Aaron Emmanuel netted 12 points, 10 of those coming in the second half

– Isaiah Hicks had 17 points and eight rebounds for the Gorillas

UP NEXT
Missouri Western returns to the MWSU Fieldhouse to host Lincoln at 7:30 p.m on Thursday, Feb 23.

— MWSU Athletics —

MWSU softball splits two games on day one of 8-State Classic

riggertMissouriWesternBENTONVILLE, Ark. – The Missouri Western softball team (7-3) split two games on day one of the Arkansas Monticello 8-State Classic.

The Griffons got a late two-run home run from Katie Klosterman to defeat Minnesota State (5-1) in the first game, then gave up four late runs in a 6-3 loss to Illinois-Springfield (2-0) in the day one finale.

NOTABLES
– Morgan Rathmann tied the MWSU career stolen bases with her 82nd stolen base in the Minnesota State game. She also tied the MWSU single game record with three steals in the game

– Katie Klosterman’s two-run home run in the top of the seventh broke a 1-1 tie with Minnesota State and gave the Griffons the lead they needed to win

– The Griffons hit three home runs on the day – Klosterman’s and one each from Riley Wilson and Sydney Washington against Illinois-Springfield

– Missouri Western led Illinois-Springfield 2-0 after two innings then took a 3-2 lead on Washington’s homer in the third before giving up three in the fifth and one in the sixth

– Missouri Western batted .315 and slugged .519 on the day

– Griffon pitchers walked 12 and hit three batters on the day

TOP PERFORMERS
– Shelbie Atwell continued her torrid opening pace, going 4-for-6 at the plate with a double and an RBI. She is batting .500 on the season

– Washington was 4-for-8 with a double, a home run, a run and an RBI

– Rathmann was 3-for-6 with two runs scored and the three stolen bases in game one

– Barbara Billingsley improved to 4-1 on the season with the win over Minnesota State,

UP NEXT
Missouri Western takes on Upper Iowa (0-2) at 11 a.m., Saturday in Bentonville before facing Minnesota Duluth (1-1) at approximately 1 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

Missouri Western women pull away in second half to defeat Southern

riggertMissouriWesternJOPLIN, Mo. – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team(19-6, 11-5) didn’t need any last-minute heroics to win at Missouri Southern (11-14, 6-10) this year. The Griffons ran away for their 19th win of the season 70-58 Wednesday night.

NOTABLES
– Missouri Western trailed by seven early, but clawed back and took a 31-28 lead to the half

– MWSU opened the second half with a 7-0 run and never trailed in the half

– The Griffons shot 48% from the field and better than 88% at the free throw line

– Nine Griffons scored, four in double figures

TOP PERFORMERS
– Dwanisha Tate scored 15 of her team-high 17 points in the second half

– Chelsea Dewey finished with 13 points, going 3-8 from the field, but 6-6 at the free throw line

– Sefulu Faave scored 11 points and Julia Torres added 10

UP NEXT
The Griffons travel to No. 7 Pittsburg State (21-3, 13-2) on Saturday, Feb. 18.

— MWSU Athletics —

Griffons lose heart breaker at Missouri Southern 74-73

riggertMissouriWesternJOPLIN, Mo. – A heart breaking 74-73 loss at Missouri Southern Wednesday night left the Missouri Western men’s basketball team at 7-18 overall and 3-13 in the MIAA, and sets up a crucial showdown Saturday at Pittsburg State for the Griffons.

Missouri Western had three possessions in the final minute, trailing 74-73, but missed a layup, a jumper and committed a turnover that could have capitalized on three missed Missouri Southern free throws in the same time period.

NOTABLES
– The Griffons took what would be their final lead, 73-69, on a Joe Hamilton three with 1:59 left, but did not score again in the game

– Missouri Western was 9-12 from three-point range in the second half to help the Griffons come back from a 35-29 halftime deficit

– MWSU opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take a two-point lead

– For the game, MWSU shot 55.3% from the field and 62.5% from three-point range

– The three point percentage was the highest in a game this season for the Griffons and the field goal percentage was the second highest

– There were nine lead changes and eight ties in the second half alone, 15 ties and 14 lead changes in the game

– Missouri Southern scored 24 of its points off 14 Missouri Western turnovers, the Griffons scored eight points off nine Southern turnovers

– It was the 10th straight loss for Missouri Western in Joplin

TOP PERFORMERS
– Cole Clearman and TJ Evans led the Griffons with 19 points each

– Clearman was 5-6 from three-point range

– Joe Hamilton and Seth Bonifas had 10 points apiece

– Bonifas and Aaron Emmanuel led the team with six rebounds each

– Emmanuel led the team with eight assists

UP NEXT
Missouri Western travels to Pittsburg State (4-19, 2-13) on Saturday for a game with postseason implications. The Griffons currently have a half-game lead on Pittsburg State for the final qualifying spot in the MIAA Tournament.

— MWSU Athletics —

Missouri Western baseball loses series finale at Arkansas-Fort Smith

riggertMissouriWesternFORT SMITH, Arkansas – The Missouri Western baseball team (3-7) fell 6-2 to Arkansas-Fort Smith wrapping up six games over four days.

NOTABLES
– Alex Heuring connected for his first home run of the season to lead off the fifth inning

– Dusty Stroup knocked a triple and Nick Gawley a double to extended their hitting streaks to five games

– David Glaude reached base safely for the 10th consecutive game with a single in the third inning

– Arkansas-Fort Smith narrowly outhit Missouri Western 9-8

– The Griffons and Lions both strand eight runners on base

– UAFS pitchers recorded 11 strikeouts

TOP PERFORMANCES
– Ryan Smith went 2-for-2 at the plate

– Alex Heuring and Dusty Stroup combined to drive in both Griffon RBIs

– Dion Williams was 3-for-4 for Arkansas Fort-Smith

UP NEXT
Missouri Western travels to Washburn for a non-conference series beginning Feb. 24 in Topeka, Kan.

— MWSU Athletics —

Griffon women upset No. 11 Emporia State 68-59

riggertMissouriWesternST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western women’s basketball team (18-6, 10-5) used a gutsy, hard-fought effort to knock off No. 11 Emporia State (20-4, 11-4) on Saturday in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

NOTABLES
– Emporia State jumped out to a 9-1 lead, but MWSU answered with an 8-0 run

– The Griffons took their third lead with 3:38 left in the first half and never trailed again

– Missouri Western forced 15 Emporia State turnovers and had a season-high nine blocks

– The Griffons shot better than 57 percent from the field in the second half and held Emporia State to 36 percent in the half

– On the game, Emporia State shot just 33 percent from the field

– The win left Missouri Western just one game behind Emporia State and Central Oklahoma, who are tied for third in the MIAA standings

TOP PERFORMERS
– Dwanisha Tate scored a season and game high 22 points with eight rebounds on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from three-point range

– Chelsea Dewey added 20 points

– Erin Anderson scored 1 1points

– Sefulu Faavae had a game-high five assists to go with her five points

UP NEXT
The Griffons hit the road next week, playing at Missouri Southern on Wednesday Feb. 15 and then at No. 10 Pittsburg State on Feb. 18.

— MWSU Athletics —

Western men lose at home to Emporia for fifth straight loss

riggertMissouriWesternST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team (7-17, 3-12 MIAA) fell to Emporia State (12-12, 8-7 MIAA) 73-67 at the MWSU Fieldhouse on Saturday.

NOTABLES
– Missouri Western dropped their fifth consecutive game, the longest stretch of the season

– The Griffons had four starters score in double-figures

– Seth Bonifas’s layup with 3:26 left in the game started a 7-0 MWSU run to cut the Emporia State lead to two but never could any closer

– The Hornets had five players score in double-digits

– ESU shot 77.8 percent from the free-throw line

TOP PERFORMERS
– Joe Hamilton scored 15 points with seven rebounds and shot 4-7 from the three point arc

– Cole Clearman netted 16 points and added five assist

– Brandon Hall scored a game-high 21 points and dished out eight assist for Emporia State

UP NEXT
The Griffons hit the road next week, playing at Missouri Southern on Wednesday Feb. 15 and then at No. 10 Pittsburg State on Feb. 18.

— MWSU Athletics —

MWSU baseball falls in 10-innings at Arkansas Tech 5-4

riggertMissouriWesternRUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Missouri Western baseball team fell 5-4 in 10 innings to Arkansas Tech on a walk-off single.

NOTABLES
– Arkansas Tech’s single through the right side drove in the winning run from second base

– Alex Heuring’s RBI single, drove in David Glaude to give Missouri Western a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning

– MWSU’s Donald Wanner escaped a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth inning on a field choice to force the tenth inning

– ATU pitchers recorded 16 strikeouts

– The Griffons were outhit 12-6 by the Wonder Boys

TOP PERFORMERS
– Jared Lloyd came out of the bullpen to throw 3 1/3 hitless innings with three strikeouts and a walk

– David Glaude went 1-for-4 with a hit, a walk and two runs scored

– Marcus Wilson 2-for-4, with a triple and two runs scored for Arkansas Tech

– Humberto Montiel threw six innings on four hits, two walks, two earned runs and nine strikeouts

UP NEXT
Missouri Western and Arkansas Tech will play a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 11. First game will start at 12 p.m. with game two beginning at 2 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

Missouri Western softball drops two games Friday in Arkansas

riggertMissouriWesternBENTONVILLE, Ark. – Things couldn’t have went much better for the Missouri Western softball team on opening weekend, but the opposite may have been true on day one of the second weekend for the team.

Missouri Western dropped its first two games of the Arkansas-Monticello Division II Softball Classic on Friday, by a combined score of 25-4, playing only 10 total innings. Missouri Western lost game one 17-4 to Arkansas-Monticello and was shutout, 8-0, by Harding Friday afternoon. Both games were stopped after five innings.

NOTABLES
– Missouri Western allowed 10 runs before recording an out in the first inning of a 17-4 loss to Arkansas-Monticello in the opener Friday

– The Griffons committed four errors in game one against Arkasnas-Monticello

– After compiling 31 hits through the team’s first four games, the Griffons managed just seven total on Friday

– It was the first time in Jen Bagley Trotter’s 16 years as head coach the team was run-ruled in consecutive games and the most runs allowed by an MWSU team in consecutive games during the Trotter era

Statistics were not immediately available from the loss to Arkansas-Monticello. A box score and statistics will be updated later on gogriffons.com

UP NEXT
Missouri Western stays in Bentonville for a rematch with Henderson State and a match-up with No. 11 Arkansas Tech on Saturday.

— MWSU Athletics —

Griffons drop fourth straight with 74-64 loss to Washburn

mwsuST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western men’s basketball team (7-16, 3-11 MIAA) suffered its fourth consecutive loss as they fell at home to Washburn (15-8, 7-7 MIAA) 74-64 inside the MWSU Fieldhouse Wednesday night.

HEADLINES
– Washburn’s 12 three-pointers are the most given up by Missouri Western this season

– TJ Evans scored five straight points to spark a 10-0 run with 7:55 left in the game,cutting the WU lead to four but MWSU couldn’t get any closer

– This is the fourth consecutive loss for MWSU

– The Ichabods outrebounded the Griffons by 14

TOP PERFORMERS
– TJ Evans scored 16 of his team-best 18 points in the second half

– Joe Hamilton went 4-6 from the three-point arc and scored 16 points

– Washburn’s Brady Skeens recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds

– WU’s Cameron Wiggins scored 23 points and hit a game-high five three-pointers

UP NEXT
Missouri Western stays home, hosting Emporia State Feb. 11 at 4 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

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