WARRENSBURG, Mo. ­- Junior Taylor Shull stepped to the line for Northwest Missouri State with 7.4 seconds remaining and the Bearcats trailing by one at Central Missouri.

The way Shull stared at the basket before taking a shot left no doubt the moment was right for her. But Shull admitted she was nervous.

“A couple of the girls came up to me and they were like, ‘Taylor, we believe in you. We know you can hit these.'” Shull said.

Shull drilled the first free throw. Central Missouri called timeout to ice Shull.

It didn’t bother her. Shull made the second one. Northwest then played great defense, getting two blocks and then watched a desperation three-pointer go wide left.

Northwest came away with a thrilling 61-60 victory over the Jennies Saturday afternoon at the Multipurpose Building. It was the second straight nail-biting win for the Bearcats.

“From the start, our kids executed our game plan to a tee,” Northwest coach Michael Smith said. “They were a driving team and we knew it so we tried to limit their opportunities to get drives.

“Our kids are starting to believe. You can see that in their eyes. This is a big win for us on the road. Anytime you can get a win on the road in the MIAA it says a lot. I am really proud of our kids right now.”

On Wednesday, Northwest beat Southwest Baptist on a buzzer beater by sophomore Shelby Mustain.

The win Saturday afternoon was more significant. It was on against a team that has five MIAA wins and was picked to finish fifth in conference.

“This is huge,” Shull said of the back-to-back wins. “We started the season a little slow. These two wins are confidence boosters. We got to keep going and keep building off of it.”

The Jennies showed their will to win when they fell behind 35-30 at the start of the second half and responded by taking a 40-37 lead a few minutes later.

Northwest didn’t back down. The Bearcats went back in front 41-40 on a basket by Ariel Easton, who finished with a game-high 17 points.

Central Missouri had a small spurt and took a 44-43 lead. Northwest bounced right back with its best run of the second half. Fueled by consecutive three-pointers by freshman Bailey Smith, Northwest built a 51-44 lead with 9:26 left.

“Those were really big, but I could not have done that without my teammates because they gave me the confidence to hit those threes,” Bailey Smith said. “I lost confidence here lately. Just getting it back feels great.”

The Bearcats struggled to score the rest of the way, but they continued to battle and fight for each point even when they trailed 57-53 with 4:56 remaining. Northwest scored the next four, which included a basket by junior Tember Schechinger that tied the game 57-57 with 4:06 left.

But once again Northwest faced a deficit. The Bearcats trailed 60-57 with 1:54 left. Northwest didn’t give up another point the rest of the way.

With a 1:09 left, Northwest closed to one on a layup by Mustain. And that set the stage for Shull’s clutch free throws.

It was another team effort by the Bearcats. Schechinger finished with 12. Freshman Tanya Meyer came off the bench and scored 11 and Smith added 10 off the bench.

“We had some early foul trouble and we had some kids step in and play,” Michael Smith said. “Tanya Meyer came in and gave us some big minutes. Another freshman, Bailey Smith hit three big threes. I am very proud of her. She has been struggling a little bit, but the kid has been in the gym everyday shooting.”

In the first half, Northwest continued to show growth. The Bearcats fell behind 19-10 midway through the half, but went into halftime with a 33-30 lead.

The Bearcats played solid zone defense in the last 10 minutes and the offense got on track. They made a quick spurt to close to 19-16.

“After our first MIAA win, we know we don’t have to give up when we are down,” Shull said. “We can keep fighting back. We realized that. There is never a time to give up. We can keep coming back.”

Northwest stayed within three and four points over the next 5 minutes and then took a 25-24 lead on a three-pointer by Meyer with 5:05 left.

Central Missouri regained the lead. Northwest came right back with a three-pointer by Smith, giving the Bearcats a 28-26 lead.

The Bearcats nearly shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, going 13 for 28. They also held Central Missouri to 33 percent.

— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – In front of a boisterous student section at Bearcat Arena Wednesday evening, the Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team delivered an impressive gut-check 77-73 overtime victory over Southwest Baptist.

“It feels pretty good afterwards, but it was pretty tiring,” said senior Matt Wallace, who for the third straight game scored a career-high in points, finishing with 19.

“It was big for us, going down the stretch, getting down two and everybody wondering if we can do it. But we came back and won it. We will have that in the back of our heads for the rest of the season.”

Sure, the Bearcats blowout wins at Central Oklahoma, at Northeastern State and at home against Nebraska-Kearney were works of art. But it is easy to look good when the ball is dropping.

What the Bearcats pulled off Wednesday was probably more meaningful.

“This game can benefit us a lot more because those games you are not improving much and you are on a feel-good,” Wallace said. “You are not going to have a feel-good during tourney time. You usually are not playing your greatest and shots are not going down so you got to be able to grind out and get the win like we did tonight.”

Against Southwest Baptist, the Bearcats held a five-point lead with only 35 seconds left. It appeared Wallace sealed the victory when he stole the ball and raced down the court for a layup, which put the Bearcats up 64-59.

“I honestly was thinking we were kind of set,” Wallace said. “But that was dumb of me to do.”

Southwest Baptist responded by scoring the final five points in regulation, all coming on the hot hand of senior Menas Stephens.

Overtime, though, was not foreign territory for the Bearcats. They pulled out a 74-66 overtime win against Fort Hays State on Dec. 20 at Bearcat Arena.

The big difference this time was Northwest immediately fell behind Southwest Baptist in overtime. Against Fort Hays State, the Bearcats quickly jumped to a lead in overtime.

Southwest Baptist held a 69-67 lead when freshman Justin Pitts drove for a layup. Southwest Baptist went back in front 70-69 with 1:10 left on free throw by Stephens.

Northwest battled back and grabbed the lead with 57 seconds left on a three-pointer by sophomore Zach Schneider. The lead grew to 74-70 on two free throws by Pitts with 36 seconds left.

This time, the Bearcats didn’t allow Southwest Baptist to tie, but it wasn’t easy. A three-pointer by David Gabrovsek with 22 seconds left allowed Southwest Baptist to close to one at 74-73.

Three seconds later, junior Conner Crooker made both free throws, pushing Northwest’s lead back to three.

Those four straight free throws were key in the Bearcats securing the win. If Northwest were better at the line during regulation, the game probably wouldn’t have went to overtime. For the game, Northwest went 15 for 31 from the line for 48 percent, although in overtime the Bearcats were six for eight.

Northwest was also hurt on the boards. Southwest Baptist pulled down 20 more rebounds than the Bearcats.

Still, Northwest found a way to win. The Bearcats improved to 13-3 overall and 6-2 in the MIAA. Northwest hits the road for their next game, playing at Central Missouri on Saturday.

Picking up the 13th victory, though, was definitely tiring.

“We are getting used to it,” said Crooker, who finished with 27 points and a career-high nine rebounds. “The past few games have been a grind. This was a big one tonight. I don’t think I have been more tired in a game in my life.

“They were just fighting and getting after the o-boards. It was a tough, fought battle. It was good to come out with a win.”

Northwest led for all but a couple of possession in the first half, but the slim 30-29 lead at halftime signified just how close the game was the first 20 minutes.

Each time the Bearcats built a six-point lead, Southwest Baptist charged right back.

For the most part, Northwest only had two sources of offense in the first half. Matt Wallace scored 11 and Conner Crooker had 10.

The Bearcats shot an uncharacteristically low 41 percent from the field and was 4-for-12 from the free throw line for 33 percent.

— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —

MARYVILLE, Mo. – With 1.6 seconds left and the game tied, Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team was in position for its first MIAA victory.

Junior Taylor Shull looked for one teammate and then another and finally she zipped a pass to sophomore Shelby Mustain, who tossed in the game-winning basket at the buzzer.

“Where were my teammates,” Mustain said of her thoughts immediately following the basket. “I am ready to celebrate.

“We were in the locker room and it felt like we won the national championship. We wanted that win so bad. It was such a team effort and such a team win. I just couldn’t wait to get to my teammates.”

The 66-64 victory by Northwest over Southwest Baptist Wednesday evening at Bearcat Arena was a case of a team tired of losing conference games.

“We have seen a lot of growth in the last week to week and a half with our players,” Northwest coach Michael Smith said. “It was nice to do this in front of Bearcat nation. Our crowd was great tonight.

“More importantly, I’m just glad our kids stayed composed. I felt like when they made some runs, we didn’t force it and try to make a five-point shot. We slowly came back and got a bucket at a time and put ourselves in position and got some stops when we needed them.”

Northwest didn’t back down when it trailed by 13 points in the first half, nor did the Bearcats wilt when they were down 58-49 with 8:13 to go.

“We were going to fight and give it our all,” said Northwest senior Ariel Easton, who finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. “Something we stressed to everyone is when you are out there, leave everything on the court.”

A layup by freshman Tanya Meyer, who sparked Northwest late in the first half, ignited the Bearcats again.

Junior Tember Schechinger followed with a basket, helping Northwest close to 58-53 with more than 6 minutes left.

Even though Northwest held the lead for less than two minutes in the contest, the Bearcats played with the confidence of a team who held a lead most of the game.

Schechinger pulled Northwest to within two at 64-62 with 2:59 left. At that point, it was obvious the Bearcats were not going to be denied a win.

A little over a minute later, Mustain tied the game at 64-64. Over the last four minutes, Northwest played stellar defense. Southwest Baptist final points came with 4:05 left in the game.

Northwest played winning basketball on both ends of the court. The Bearcats shot 52 percent from the field in the game.

“Hearing that statistic made our team light up because earlier in the season everyone was struggling with their confidence,” Mustain said. “Over the last few games we have been playing better. Our confidence has gone up.

“We all trust each other shooting the ball and knowing that it is going to be a quality shot and more than likely it is going to go in.”

Defensively, Northwest held Southwest Baptist to 33 percent from the field in the second half.

“At the end of the day, our players made plays and that is the growth we are making as a team,” Smith said.

Just when it looked like silly turnovers were going to send Northwest into halftime with another double-digit deficit, the Bearcats rose up and played their most inspired basketball in the final 3 minutes of the first half.

Northwest trailed 37-24 and was in bad shape with 3:12 left in the first half. The amazing turnaround that led to a 38-37 halftime lead for Northwest started with a three-point play by Meyer.

Meyer followed with her first three-point field goal of her young career, pulling Northwest to within seven at 37-30.

“It was huge,” Easton said Meyer’s baskets. “We let down our energy a lot in the first half and that kind of killed us. When she hit those two shots it brought that spark back.”

Morgan Walker took over and scored on consecutive buckets. Easton brought the Bearcats to only one point behind with a basket and Schechinger sent Northwest into halftime with a one-point lead on a layup.

— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —