Tough Road Stretch Ends for Bearcat Women

A tough road stretch in which they played nearly every one of their games away from home finally game to an end for the Northwest Missouri State women, who dropped a 76-74 decision at Southwest Baptist and then dropped a 60-52 decision at ranked Central Missouri. They will now play most of their remaining games at home, where they will have a chance to make their move in the conference race.
Against Baptist, Northwest could not complete a comeback from a 13 point deficit. The two teams played evenly during the first half until the purple Bearcats hit four straight 3-pointers midway through the frame to give themselves a lead that they would not relinquish.
By the 11 minute mark of the second half, Northwest had it down to one possession, only to have Baptist answer every bucket that Northwest made as the green Bearcats could not buy a stop when they needed it.
Finally, Northwest got the ball back with 29 seconds left with a chance to tie down 73-71; however, Maggie Marnin turned it over with 11 seconds left and Northwest had to start fouling. Ashleigh Nelson hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left to make it 75-74, but Baptist was able to get it inbounds and hit a free throw with one second left and Northwest did not have time to get it back up the floor to shoot another shot.
Ashleigh Nelson led the scoring with 18 points, followed by Monique Stevens with 14, a career high. Candace Boeh had 12 points, a season high for her as she continued to show life on the offensive end. Annie Matthews had 10 points and five for five from the field. Maggie Marnin and Meridee Scott had 8 and Tember Schechinger had 4. Marnin and Stevens led in rebounding with 5 each. Monique Stevens led with six assists, followed by 4 from Ashleigh Nelson. Annie Matthews, Maggie Marnin, and Meridee Scott each had 3 assists. Ashleigh Nelson and Monique Stevens each had four steals.
Both Northwest and Baptist put up identical shooting numbers, going over 50% from the field at 56.6%. But Baptist made three more 3-pointers, which was the difference in the game. Sometimes, you do all you can to win the game, only to have the other team make everything they throw up.
Against Central, Northwest got off to a hot shooting start, making nearly everything that they threw up in building up a 24-8 lead in the first 12 minutes of the game. But a lead that is built up on hot shooting is not necessarily a safe one; it is only a matter of time before a team cools down. A lead that is built up on defense and rebounding is much safer.
It was only a matter of time before Central’s run came, and they were able to erase most of their deficit by the half, trailing 28-26. The Mules rode the momentum of their strong first half finish into the second half, building a lead of as much as 37-31 before Northwest started chipping away at it and coming back to take the lead at 48-46 on Maggie Marnin’s shot with 10:41 left. The game was tied at 48 and 50 before Northwest missed four chances to either tie or take the lead down two; BreAnna Lewis’ free throws with 2:43 left made it a two possession game for Central and Northwest went scoreless over the last 5:25 in the loss.
The game plan for Northwest coming in was to establish the paint since they are a post-oriented team and Central is a perimeter team. They succeeded in their goal, as they had 30 points in the paint and outscored the Mules 16-6 in the paint in the second half. Unfortunately, they hacked and fouled way too much on defense, fouling 27 times to Central’s 17 times. Consequently, Central outscored Northwest 19-12 at the free throw line.
Both of Northwest’s post players led the scoring for the Bearcats. Maggie Marnin had 14 points for Northwest to lead the scoring. Annie Matthews followed with 10. Ashley Thayer had one of her best games of the year and followed with 8. Monique Stevens and Tember Schechinger had 6 each and Meridee Scott had 5. Ashleigh Nelson had 3.
Northwest outrebounded Central 37-31 for the game. Annie Matthews led the team with 13 boards, followed by Maggie Marnin with 7 and Ashleigh Nelson with 5. Monique Stevens had 8 assists and Ashleigh Nelson had 4. Maggie Marnin had three blocks while Annie Matthews had 3 steals for the Bearcats.
Six out of their next nine games will be at home for Northwest. They will host Northeastern Oklahoma on Thursday, January 31st at 5:30 and then host Emporia State on February 2nd at 1:30. Other home dates are Fort Hayes on February 13th at 5:30, Washburn on February 16th at 1:30, archrival Missouri Western at 5:30 on February 20th, and Truman State on March 2nd at 1:30 for Senior Day.