The Northwest Missouri State University women’s basketball season opened the 2017-18 season on Friday against Ouachita Baptist at the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar, Mo.
– The Bearcats fell to the Tigers, 68-54. Northwest is now 0-1 while OBU improves to 1-0.
– Mallory McAndrews had a team-high 13 points, hitting four times from beyond the arc.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Ouachita Baptist held a 31-25 lead at the break. The Bearcats led after the first quarter, 19-16.
– Northwest hit eight total three pointers in the game and grabbed 40 rebounds.
– The Bearcat defense forced 16 OBU turnovers as McAndrews led the way with a pair of steals.
– Mallory McConkey had 11 points and five rebounds in her first collegiate game.
– Tanya Meyer recorded her first double-double of the season, grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with 10 points and a steal.

Key Northwest Sequence
– The Bearcats came out of the gate strong, jumping out to an early 19-6 lead. Kylie Coleman got things started with her first collegiate basket on Northwest’s first possession. Meyer hit a layup and Jaelyn Haggard knocked down a three to make it 7-0 Bearcats. After the Tigers got a pair of buckets, Meyer converted an and-one to make it a 10-4 ballgame. OBU would score again but Northwest hit its next three buckets, all from beyond the arc. McConkey got it started and then McAndrews hit threes on back-to-back possessions to make it 19-6, Northwest.

Up Next
– Northwest will take on Henderson State on Saturday at noon in Bolivar, Mo.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team fell to No. 5 ranked Nebraska-Kearney, 3-1, on Friday at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo.
– Northwest falls to 16-14 on the year and 10-7 in MIAA play with the loss. The Lopers move to 30-2 overall and 16-1 in conference play.
– Maddy Bruder had a match-high 17 kills to go along with 13 digs and two blocks.

Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats came out strong and won the first set, 25-18. But Nebraska-Kearney took the next three by scores of 25-17, 25-23 and 25-17.
– UNK hit .220 for the match and were forced into 18 attacking errors.
– Olivia Nowakowski had a match-high 23 digs with one assist.
– Morgan Lewis hit .44 with 14 kills and just two attacking errors. She had three total blocks and a dig.
– Sofia Schleppenbach added five blocks and three digs defensively. She had nine kills and a service ace.
– Gaby da Silva had 14 digs and Megan Stilmock added 12 digs.
– Sarah Dannettell had 27 assists with a pair of digs.
– Maddy Ahrens had 26 assists with six digs.

Key Northwest Sequence
– Northwest was tied with UNK, 14-14, in the first set before pulling away for the early lead. A bad Loper set and a block by Schleppenbach and Sidney gave the Bearcats a 15-14 lead. Scheppenbach and Sidney added back-to-back kills to force a UNK timeout. After Nebraska-Kearney got a point back, Northwest went on a 3-0 run to take a 20-15 lead behind a pair of Schleppenbach kills and one from Sidney. The Lopers got another point back but the Bearcats responded with a 4-0 run. Sidney and Darcy Sunderman had kills and Schleppenbach added a service ace. After a kill by Lewis, it was set point for Northwest, 24-16. After two UNK points, Sunderman ended the set with a kill from Ahrens.

Up Next
– Northwest will conclude the 2017 regular season on Saturday, Nov. 11, against Fort Hays State at 3 p.m. in Bearcat Arena. The team will honor Dannettell, Sunderman, da Silva and Taylor Linenberger as part of Senior Day prior to the match.

— Northwest Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University head softball coach Ryan Anderson has announced the signings of four student-athletes to the Bearcats 2019 roster. The signing class includes Adelaide Watts from Gretna High School, Olivia Daugherty from Liberty North High School, Grace Ruehle from Dodge City High School and Bailey Devlin from Rock Bridge High School.

“I am very excited to have these four individuals join our Northwest family,” said Anderson. “We knew that with our senior class this year graduating, we needed to bring in players who could come in and immediately contribute to maintain the level we have been at the past few years. I think this class gives us depth and will challenge for some playing time immediately. We can’t wait to have them on campus.”

Watts is a three-time all-state performer at Gretna High School in Gretna, Neb. The catcher/outfielder holds school record with nine triples and 57 walks. She has earned All-Eastern Midland Conference honors each of the past four seasons and is a four-time all-district performer. She hit .389 for her high school career with 129 hits, 29 doubles, 86 RBIs, 73 runs scored and 23 stolen bases for coach Bill Heard. Twice she earned all-conference academic honors and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Daugherty was a four-year letter winner for Liberty North High School and head coach Roger Lower. She was a 2017 First Team All-State performer and earned a pair of all-district and All-Greater KC Suburban All-Conference selections. As a senior, she was an all-conference, all-district, all-region and all-state performer, hitting .570 with 43 RBIs, nine home runs, nine doubles and three triples. The infielder also earned an academic letter.

Ruehle is a three-year letter winner at Dodge City High School in Dodge City, Kan., where she played for Ashley Podschun. She led the Western Athletic Conference with a .536 batting average, three home runs and 27 runs scored. She was the WAC’s MVP and Offensive player of the Year, earning first team honors. She has earned an academic letter each of the past four years and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Devlin earned all-district honor playing for coach Janel Twehous at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, Mo. The outfielder hit .403 as a senior and held a .590 on base percentage. Devlin also earned the Bruin Pride Award in Mathematics.

— Northwest Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University head men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum has announced the signing of Drew Blair from Stevens Point High School in Wisconsin.

“Drew can make plays off the dribble and shoots the basketball at a very high clip,” said McCollum. “He is a very unselfish kid and does what it takes to win. He is coming off a State Championship in 2017 and will have a very good shot at another run this season. Drew is a high character kid who comes from a great family and we are very excited that he chose to be a Bearcat.”

Blair, from Stevens Point, Wisc., is a first team all-state performer for coach Scott Anderson. He helped his team capture the 2016 and 2017 Division I Wisconsin State Championship. A unanimous first-team All-Wisconsin Valley Conference performer, he was named the league’s co-Player of the Year as a junior. He was an all-district performer, averaging 19.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists during the 2016-17 season. The 6-4 guard is a member of the National Honor Society. He is the son of Michael and Cari Blair.

— Northwest Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University Director of Athletics Mel Tjeerdsma has announced that Bearcat soccer head coach Tracy Hoza has resigned from her position.

“I would like to thank Coach Hoza for guiding our women’s soccer program over the past 16 years,” said Tjeerdsma. “Under her guidance, Northwest soccer went from infancy to a full-fledged Division II program. She has been a loyal member of the Northwest athletic family and we all appreciate her commitment to Northwest Missouri and Bearcat Athletics.”

Hoza, who has been the head coach at Northwest since 2003, finished with a 96-150-31 overall record. She went 58-62-16 at Bearcat Pitch and was just the second head coach in Northwest history. Hoza coached 60 All-MIAA performers including four first team performers. In 2009, Kira Lazenby was named the MIAA Goalkeeper of the Year and Izzy Romano became the program’s first conference Freshman of the Year in 2016.

A national search for her replacement will begin immediately.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce – Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State football team saw the MIAA title slip away midway through the fourth quarter on a big pass play by Fort Hays State.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Northwest gave up a 66-yard touchdown play when Fort Hays quarterback Jacob Mezera connected with Harley Hazlett over the middle, and Hazlett sprinted into the end zone.

The score put Northwest behind 10 points with 9:25 left. Backup quarterback Jonathan Baker came in for Northwest and put together a gutsy drive that mixed his scrambling ability with a couple of nice passes.

Baker led a touchdown drive that helped pull the Bearcats to within three with 3:19 left.

“I appreciated coach Wright for believing in me there and letting me come in and see what I can do,” said Baker, who completed 12 of 19 passes for 111 yards.

Northwest defense forced a three and out, putting the ball back in the hands of the Bearcats at their 22 with 1:39 left.

“I am proud of the fact that they fought,” Northwest coach Rich Wright said. “It reflects their character. We didn’t play a clean game by any stretch, but they played hard versus a week ago when I was disappointed at times at their effort. We just came up short.”

Unfortunately, Northwest couldn’t complete the comeback and lost 13-12. An interception by Fort Hays with 1:05 left sent the Bearcats to their second straight loss. Still, there was plenty of drama in the final 20 seconds.

Northwest got the ball at its 37 with 9 seconds left. Northwest completed a pass to Jordan Bishop to the Fort Hays 44 and the Tigers were called for targeting. Unfortunately, Jarrod Bishop, Jordan’s twin brother ran onto the field and was whistled for an unsportsmanlike penalty so the ball stayed at the 44 instead of moving to the 29 and setting up a potential game-winning field goal.

“We get the targeting call and are going to get a 15-yard penalty and have a chance to kick a field goal,” Wright said. “His brother made a mistake. You can’t lose your composure in that situation. He negates the 15-yard penalty by creating a 15-yard penalty of his own. That is part of understanding the moment. It is something I addressed with him right afterward. Not that we would make it or not make it, but you have an opportunity.”

It left Northwest with one opportunity for a Hail Mary touchdown pass. Fort Hays intercepted the pass near the goal line to end the game.

Northwest dropped to 8-2. Fort Hays improved to 10-0 and left Maryville with the MIAA crown.

The Bearcats will play for their playoff lives next Saturday at rival Missouri Western. Northwest needs to win and then wait for selection Sunday to learn if it is one of seven teams in its region to make the Division II playoffs.

“I am not going to focus on the playoffs next week,” Wright said. “We are going to focus on Missouri Western because that is all we are guaranteed. This could be our final football game. We are going to treat it like our last football game, and it is going to get our full attention.”

Like the previous week, Northwest struggled on offense. The only time when the Bearcats put together a good drive occurred after Fort Hays took a 13-3 lead with under 10 minutes left.

Faced with a 10-point deficit, Baker took over and engineered a 14-play, 75-yard drive the ended with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Baker to Quincy Woods. It was the first touchdown since the first quarter of last week’s game for Northwest.

“I felt we needed to make a switch,” Wright said. “Zach was pressing a little bit. I decided I wanted to give Jonathan a shot and he did a great job executing when we needed it. It is a credit to him and his preparation the last 10 weeks.”

The Bearcats tacked on two more points with 13 seconds left when Fort Hays purposely took a safety to have a free kick.

Because of stellar defense by both teams, the only offense of consequence came from the placekickers. Less than a minute into the second quarter, Northwest freshman Parker Sampson booted a 28-yard field goal in his first collegiate attempt and gave the Bearcats a 3-0 lead.

Fort Hays immediately responded on its next drive. The Tigers moved the ball 34 yards, setting up a 48-yard attempt from senior Brandon Brown. He easily nailed the long field goal with at least 10 yards to spare. His game-tying field goal came with 10:59 left in the second quarter.

For the rest of the second quarter, neither team came close to scoring again. Fort Hays had the best opportunity. In the Tigers’ next drive after their field goal, they started at Northwest’s 47. But they could only move the ball four yards and was forced to punt.

Statistically, Northwest narrowly won the battle, picking up five first downs and 125 total yards. The Tigers had three first downs and 75 yards of total offense.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team defeated Missouri Southern, 3-2, on Saturday at the Robert Ellis Young Gym in Joplin, Mo.
– The Bearcats improved to 16-13 overall and 10-6 in MIAA play. Missouri Southern falls to 11-18 overall and 4-12 in conference action.
– Maddy Bruder had a match-high 26 kills with 20 digs and three assists.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Northwest lost the first set, 25-23, but rebounded to win the second and third sets, 25-14 and 25-17. The Lions took the third, 25-19, and the Bearcats won the fourth, 15-9.
– The Northwest offense hit .352 for the match while holding Missouri Southern to a .237 attack percentage.
– Sofia Schleppenbach had 20 kills with a pair of blocks and two digs.
– Hallie Sidney had 11 kills with two digs and a block.
– Maddy Ahrens had 33 assists with eight digs and three service aces.
– Sarah Dannettell added 29 assists with five kills, four digs and one block.
– Olivia Nowakowski had 16 digs while Gaby da Silva had 14 digs.

Key Northwest Sequence
– The Bearcats jumped out to a 9-7 lead in the fifth and decisive set. Dannettell and Schleppenbach had back-to-back kills to make it 11-8 before Missouri Southern got a point back. After the two teams traded points to make it 12-9, Northwest closed out the match with a 3-0 run. Schleppenbach put away another kill and a Lion attack error forced a timeout on match point, 14-9. Out of the break, the Bearcats forced another Missouri Southern attacking error to end the match.

Up Next
– Northwest hosts Nebraska-Kearney on Friday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.

— Northwest Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State University men’s basketball team has been ranked first in the preseason National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) poll, released on Tuesday. The Bearcats, who went 35-1 last year and won the Division II National Championship, received 399 points and 15-of-16 first place votes. Northwest will face Lincoln Memorial, the poll’s No. 4 ranked team, on Tuesday, Dec. 19, in Owensboro, Ky. MIAA members Central Missouri and Wasburn each received votes.

The Bearcats begin the regular season on Friday, Nov. 10, against Upper Iowa in St. Joseph, Mo., at 1 p.m. The first home action for Northwest is on Friday, Nov. 17, against Metro State at 7 p.m. in Bearcat Arena.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University volleyball team fell to Truman State on Tuesday at Gen. John J. Pershing Arena in Kirksville, Mo.

– The Bearcats move to 14-13 on the year while Truman State improves to 14-12.
– Darcy Sunderman led the Bearcats with 12 kills. She had nine digs defensively.

Key Northwest Statistics
– Truman State won all three sets by scores of 25-19, 25-19 and 25-18.
– Maddy Ahrens had 16 assists with seven digs and a service ace.
– Sarah Dannettell had 12 assists with three kills and a dig.
– Olivia Nowakowski had 17 digs with three assists.
– Hallie Sidney added seven kills with two blocks and two digs.

Up Next
– The Bearcats return to MIAA play on Friday, Nov. 3, at Southwest Baptist at 7 p.m.

— Northwest Athletics —

The Northwest Missouri State University soccer team defeated Lindenwood, 2-1, on Sunday at Bearcat Pitch in Maryville, Mo.
– Northwest improves to 7-10 on the year and 4-7 in MIAA play. The Lions fall to 6-12-1 overall and 2-8-1 in conference action.
– Alex Mausbach scored her first goal of the year in the 72nd minute on a pass from Emily Madden to make it 1-0 Bearcats.
– Madden came out of a tackle in the 75th minute and finished to the top right post for her first goal of the year to make it a 2-0 Northwest advantage.
– Prior to the match, the Bearcats honored seniors Ashtyn Dedovesh, Elizabeth Finn, Hannah Goetz, Cassie Holtman, Ashley Malloy, Annie Poelzl, Jessica Spradley and Danielle Wolfe, who were playing in their last regular season game at Northwest. All eight senior started the match.

Key Northwest Statistics
– The Bearcats out-shot Lindenwood 22-13 and had 14 shots on goal to the Lions’ four.
– Northwest was called for 13 fouls while Lindenwood had seven.
– The Bearcats had four corner kicks and the Lions had five.
– Lindenwood scored in the 87th minute to make it a 2-1 game.
– Natasha Samudzi had a team-high four shots, three coming on goal.
– Malloy had three saves in goal for the Bearcats.
– Madi McKeever had three shots, two on goal.
– Danielle Wolfe and Taylor Wolfe each had two shots on goal.
– Brianna Hersom, Bri Wawiorka and Kasey Allshouse each had one shot on goal.

— Northwest Athletics —