The Northwest Missouri State softball team won its final two non-conference matchups Sunday before conference play opens next weekend.

The games wrapped up the Teri Mathis-Zenner Memorial Tournament, hosted by Missouri Southern State University at the Joplin Athletic Complex in Joplin, Mo.

Sarah Baldwin set a career mark in strikeouts in the opening win over McKendree, 6-0.

The Bearcats wrapped up a perfect 4-0 weekend with a 5-1 victory over Sioux Falls in game two.

Northwest is now 10-2 on the season, tied for the fewest games needed to reach 10 wins in school history (1975 and 1976). McKendree falls to 5-10 overall while Sioux Falls dips to 6-2 this season.

The Bearcats will open conference play next weekend when they play host to Central Oklahoma Friday, March 4 at Bearcat field. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – More than 10 minutes remained in the first half and Northwest Missouri State men’s basketball team already made eight three-pointers, held a 20-point lead and caused Southwest Baptist to call two timeouts.

Lone Northwest senior Conner Crooker couldn’t have asked for a better start Saturday afternoon in his final home game at Bearcat Arena.

“It wasn’t perfect,” Crooker said. “I fouled out, but it was a nice way to go out, especially with the win, going undefeated at home and everything we accomplished. It was pretty nice.”

The hot start never left a doubt about the outcome. The Bearcats rolled to their 12th straight victory, winning 87-63 and improving to 22-5 overall and 19-3 in MIAA. Northwest finished five games ahead of the second-place team.

“We have to keep working,” said Crooker, who finished with 17 points. “Coach does a good job of having us work hard every day no matter what the situation is or if we are on a win streak or anything like that. We are going to keep doing what we are doing.

“We haven’t won the MIAA Tournament in a while. We are going down there to win it.”

Next for the Bearcats is their quarterfinal game in the MIAA Tournament. Northwest will play at 6 p.m. Friday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.

“We definitely have a lot of confidence,” said junior Zach Schneider, who made six three-pointers and finished with 18 points. “We did a better job in the second half than we did in previous games. Against Emporia State, we didn’t do very well in that aspect. We finished the game like we wanted to.”

The game started with sophomore Justin Pitts swishing a three for the first points of the game.

A minute later, Schneider nailed a three-pointer that gave Northwest an 8-2 lead. At this point, Southwest Baptist needed to call the fire department because the Bearcats had ignited a three-point blaze.

Pitts, who finished with 24 points, made a three-pointer and then Crooker got in the act with his first three-pointer, giving Northwest a 14-2 lead.

“We knew if our guards were able to penetrate and dish, we were going to get good looks,” Schneider said. “We were definitely ready for it.”

After a few harmless baskets by Southwest Baptist, the Bearcats turned a blaze into an inferno. Crooker became the main culprit. Back-to-back treys by him gave Northwest a 26-6 lead. That’s when Southwest Baptist called its second timeout.

But Northwest stayed hot. A three-pointer by Schneider made it 31-10. Northwest was nine for 10 on three-pointers at that point. And when the Bearcats started missing a few threes, they started hitting two-point field goals. They expanded their lead to 50-22 late in the first half.

“Their game plan allowed us to shoot all those three,” Crooker said. “We were going to keep doing what we were doing. We are confident in our shooters. We were going to knock down shots.”

When halftime arrived, Northwest held a 52-26 lead. The shooting percentages were simply unbelievable. The Bearcats were 12 for 17 in three-point shots for 70.6 percent. Overall, Northwest was 20 for 29 for 69 percent.

The Bearcats also played stellar defense, limiting Southwest Baptist to 10 field goals in 27 attempts for 37 percent.

It was the type of first half Crooker will always remember. He went 4 for 7 on three-point shots and scored 14 points. Schneider was even better going 5 for 6 from three-point range for 15 points.

No drama existed in the second half. Northwest held a 63-32 lead with 15 minutes left. The only mystery left was whether Northwest could break its single-game three-point record of 20.

Eight minutes into the second half, Northwest was at 13 three-pointers. The Bearcats were attacking the basket more. Schneider made the 14th three-pointer for Northwest with 11:33 left, giving Northwest a 68-40 lead. Northwest finished with 16 three-pointers.

— Northwest Athletics —

By David Boyce, Northwest Athletics

MARYVILLE, Mo. – The storybook ending for the Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team was coming into sharp focus. Senior Taylor Shull, playing her last game for the Bearcats, scored her team’s first seven points to start the fourth.

Three of those points came on an improbable layup followed by a made free throw on the and-1 play. Shull’s offensive outburst staked Northwest to a three-point lead in the fourth quarter against Southwest Baptist Saturday afternoon at Bearcat Arena.

Everything was set for seniors Shull, Tember Schechinger and Shelby Mustain to win their final game in a Northwest uniform.

Unfortunately, real life doesn’t always play along with a nice written script. Northwest started missing shots. Southwest Baptist started making them. Southwest Baptist scored the next 13 points for a 10-point lead and that carried it to a 57-49 victory.

“Throughout the game we were struggling to get a run going and to maintain a run,” Northwest coach Buck Scheel said. “Once it was stretched out, I knew it was going to be a major, uphill climb.”

Shull ended Southwest Baptist’s 13-0 run with a field goal, which gave her 18 points, a career-high for her.

“I honestly had no idea how many points I had,” Shull said. “We were down and we needed to put up points. It was our last game. We wanted to go out strong.”

Despite the loss, Northwest once again played hard throughout the game. The Bearcats held leads in each quarter.

“Our motto the whole season was energy, effort and attitude and what you can control,” Mustain said. “In the back of our minds, we knew this was our last go-around so we were going to leave it all on the court.”

Northwest played well enough to win a few more games if a few breaks would have gone its way. Just about every time the Bearcats stepped on the court, they played hard, and the main reason why was because of the leadership provided by Schechinger, Mustain and Shull.

“The effort and the attitude has been there all year, even more so after I took over” Scheel said. “These three bought in right away, and that gave all the other girls no choice but to buy in. There were days here and there when people weren’t on board and one of these three usually let them know.

“Everybody who has seen us play has watched us compete. That was the one thing about these three players was they never gave up on themselves and they never gave up on their teammates.”

They showed that spirit in the first half.

Northwest overcame at 9-0 run early in the second quarter and took a 21-19 lead into halftime.

The Bearcats started the second quarter with a three-pointer from Jasmine Howe for a 12-7 lead and then had trouble making a basket. Southwest Baptist took advantage of the offensive drought by Northwest and scored the next nine points for an 18-12 lead.

It was the only time that Southwest Baptist had any sustained success on offense. An inside basket by Mustain got the Bearcats back on track. Shull followed with a three-pointer and Schechinger put Northwest back in front 19-18 with two free throws. Northwest concluded a 9-0 run with a basket from Mustain.

— Northwest Athletics —