By David Boyce

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State’s women’s basketball team put together its most impressive performance in over two years Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Arena.

Facing Fort Hays State, the 23rd -ranked team in the WBCA top 25, the Bearcats led from start to finish in their 92-80 victory. Northwest has now won two of its last three games.

“Since I have been here, this is one of the biggest wins we have had,” said junior Tanya Meyer, who finished with a game-high 28 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. “This was a good game for us. I think it will definitely help with the games coming up, especially Missouri Western next weekend.”

The performance caught Northwest coach Buck Scheel by surprise.

“After today’s shoot-around, I thought we would be on the losing end. I am glad they proved me wrong,” Scheel said. “They stepped up bigtime today. They really played inspired, and they played together for 40 minutes.”

As nice as the Bearcats’ win at Southwest Baptist was a week ago, Northwest was more impressive against Fort Hays, particularly in the fourth quarter when the Tigers unleashed a full-court press.

For the most part, the Bearcats handled it and once they got the ball across half court, they executed their offense at a high level.

“It was a little dicey at times,” Scheel said of breaking the press. “They weathered the storm and in the second half, they handled it much better because they were more aggressive against it.”

Northwest took an 11-point lead into the final quarter and maintained a double-digit advantage most of the final 10 minutes. The best example of it occurred with 5 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the game. Arbrie Benson tossed a perfect pass inside to Meyer, who made the layup. The field goal gave Northwest an 80-64 lead.

“We just didn’t want to panic,” said Benson, who finished with 22 points. “We wanted to keep competing and execute on offense and stay aggressive on defense to get the big lead back.”

The Bearcats simply had too many players operating at a high level on offense for Fort Hays to defend. Benson had nice drives to the baskets. Jasmin Howe was knocking down three-point bombs. Meyer was scoring inside and outside. Mallory McAndrews hit several timely three-pointers.

“We have kids who are very capable of putting up those numbers,” Scheel said. “We just have to do it consistently. You have to come in with that focus and demand it of yourself.”

And every Northwest player who stepped on the court hustled on defense. It was the type of performance that Scheel wants to see the rest of the season.

“I told them in the locker room that this is how you want to feel after a game,” Scheel said. “They competed the full 40 minutes. I am extremely proud of them.”

Midway through the third quarter, Northwest faced its stiffest challenge in the game. The Bearcats’ comfortable lead had dipped to 47-45. Fort Hays was charging hard.

Northwest stayed composed, scoring the next four points. With those two baskets, the Bearcats had the confidence to finish the quarter strong. Leading 53-48, Northwest got a basket from Meyer followed by a three-pointer from Howe that gave the Bearcats a 58-48 lead.

The Bearcats were so on top of their game that when third quarter buzzer was close to sounding, Howe hit an off-balanced three-pointer at the top of the key that sent Northwest into the fourth quarter with a 65-54 lead.

In the first half, Northwest scored the first seven points of the game and never had an offensive lull. The strong performance on the offensive end allowed the Bearcats to take a 40-31 lead into halftime.

The game started with Howe knocking down a three-pointer and she followed with a two-point bucket. The 7-0 run concluded with a basket by Benson.

“That is huge for us to come out of the gates firing. That really helped us throughout the game,” said Howe, who finished with 25 points. “We came out ready to go.”

Fort Hays never got closer than four points the rest of the first quarter. When the Tigers closed to 14-10, Northwest responded with a three-pointer. And when it was 17-13, Carlie Wilhelmi had a put-back basket.

The Bearcats went into the second quarter with a 23-16 lead. Fort Hays once again closed to four points on a three-pointer to start the quarter. Northwest scored the next six points on baskets by Meyer, Howe and Benson that prompted Fort Hays to call timeout. The Bearcats held a 29-19 lead.

After the timeout, Northwest scored four more points. The 10-0 run put the Bearcats up 33-19.

Over the next 4 minutes, the Tigers cut their deficit to single digits until Meyer drained a three-pointer with about a minute left, giving Northwest a 40-30 lead.

Northwest made 15 of 30 shots from the field for 50 percent while holding the Tigers to 33.3 percent shooting from the field.

“We needed this one game against one of the top five teams in conference, and better yet, they are one of the top 25 teams in the country. That makes it even better,” Meyer said.

— Northwest Athletics —