Long-time Northwest fans may have been thinking shades of Evangel from two years ago. Two years ago, Northwest had an impressive win against South Dakota, the D-II National Championship runnerups, on the road. The Bearcats ended a 22-game home winning streak and a 24-game regular season winning streak in the process. It was a signature win for Coach Gene Steinmeyer, whose teams have frequently knocked off much stronger opponents over the years. Northwest, which was looking to replace standout point guard April Miller (now Healy), figured to be well on the way to do that. But instead, they turned around and lost to NAIA school Evangel at home as Evangel scored at will against Northwest on their way to an 80-71 win. Northwest would go on to win only nine games that year. Evangel outworked Northwest throught the game, beating them on the boards 48-28, getting to the line 30 times and making 24 shots, and taking advantage of defensive lapses to win. Northwest would go on to win just nine games that year and miss the MIAA tournament, of which they were the defending champions.
Saturday night, history threatened to repeat itself as Peru State led much of the way against Northwest. Northwest had started off 3-0 and was looking for a 4-0 start to its nonconference schedule before going on the road to play Emporia State. But then something different happened -- Northwest battled through adversity, playing five on eight at times, before using a 15-0 run late in the game to pull out the win. Peru was red hot on offense, clicking on all cylinders and scoring at will for the first 30 minutes. But then they scored one more bucket at the 7:31 mark and then didn't score again until the closing seconds of the game when it was already decided.
Northwest showed the kind of toughness that they needed to play through a game like this; having a 6'5 player in Kyla Roehrig helped. She scored 28 points and hauled in 17 rebounds for the Bearcats. With Peru being the most physical team that Northwest has played this year, Roehrig answered the challenge as the more physical they got on her, the more she cleaned up on the glass at will, getting 15 points in the last ten minutes of the game. This was the second game that someone had stepped up down the stretch; against Jewell, Gabby Curtis' back to back 3-pointers had sparked Northwest to a win over Jewell after the Cardinals had closed to within two.
The Bearcats started off strongly as Kyla Roehrig tipped out a loose ball to Gabby Curtis for a 3-pointer and Abby Henry hit a pair of free throws off a drive to make it 5-2 early on. But then Peru began driving at will on Northwest off their ball screens, getting on the line at will, and throwing Northwest out of its rhythm as Northwest was missing a ton of shots early. Nyahok Duop's drive with 16:31 left put Peru up 8-5 at the 16:31 mark.
Gabby Curtis threw a beautiful skip pass to Kyla and then Candace Boeh grabbed a putback in transition to put Northwest back up 9-8 and then Candace kicked out to Curtis for her second 3-pointer in six minutes to make it 12-10. But then Peru, behind four more from Duop, used a 7-0 run to go back up 17-12 at the 12:28 mark. The pattern repeated itself throughout the game -- when Northwest was able to play at its pace, getting a lot of good transition looks, they would do well. When Peru was able to hit their shots or get on the line, they would do well.
Off the bench came Tara Roach to spark Northwest. Normally a post player, she developed a lot more versatility this year, adding a sweet outside shot and a drive to her arsenal; she scored six straight points to put Northwest back in from. She drove down the right side to score; Maryville product Meridee Scott pushed it up the floor, made a beautiful spin move in the lane, and fed Roach as the defense collapsed on her for another bucket. Abby Henry then pushed it following another miss and found Roach all alone as she continued to run the floor at will as Northwest went back in front 18-17.
But then Roach picked up her second foul and Peru was able to stop the run. But they were not able to break ahead as Alexis Boeh, Candace Boeh's twin sister, came off the bench for the first time this year after battling a back injury and showed a lot of energy on the floor as she announced her presence with a flying tackle of a Peru player while fighting for a loose ball. Alexis lobbed it into Kyla Roehrig on one play, kicked it out to Abby Henry on another play, fed Gabby Curtis following a steal, and then drove to the rack off an inbounds play as Northwest was able to match the Bobcats; the game was tied at 20, 22, 25, 27, 29, 31, and 33. But then the Peru pattern of getting on the line and throwing Northwest out of their rhythm began to take its toll as the Bobcats slowly built up a seven point lead at 45-38 behind two free throws from Katie Potter before Abby Henry's drive with 37 seconds left make it 45-40 at the break.
Northwest briefly went to a box and one on Duop, who had scored 19 points in the first half for Peru and began focusing more on getting it to Kyla Roehrig, who scored six points in the first four minutes of the second half to get the game tied back up at 49. Melissa Nyquist worked a perfect high-low with her twice and Shelly Martin found her inside and added a 3-pointer in transition off a pass from Henry. But then Peru went back up five as Duop got open for a 3-point play after her defender fell and then Jasmine Tate followed with a putback. Katie Potter's free throws made it 64-61 with 9:55 left for Peru, but then Northwest, normally a man to man team, switched to a zone and went box and one on Duop when she was in the game. The move worked as Peru, which shot 2 for 16 from the 3-point line for the night, could not shoot the Bearcats out of their zone.
With Northwest doing a better job of attacking the basket, they began to take over on the other end as well as Kyla Roehrig scored six straight points to put Northwest up for good at 67-64 with 7:50 left. Abby Henry got a drive and fed her for one shot and then she added a pair of putbacks. Katie Potter scored off a drive, but then Candace Boeh's inside shot with 7:19 left sparked the 15-0 run that put Peru away. With the zone defense causing 13 straight missed shots during Peru State's funk, Northwest was able to get a lot more transition looks that their offense is designed to create. Candace Boeh kicked it out to Abby Henry in transition and then Shelly Martin found Gabby Curtis open for a layup to make it 74-66 with 4 minutes left.
At that point the officials began trying to help Peru out with all sorts of bizarre calls. There was one call where a much taller Peru State player jumped into Abby Henry and knocked her down when she was going up for a shot and the referee didn't call anything. There was another no-call where the Peru State player was setting a ball screen and knocked down Shelly Martin, knocking the wind out of her for several seconds. But Northwest continued to pull away despite the interference from the officials as Abby Henry got a free throw, Kyla Roehrig got a putback, and then Alexis Boeh came off the bench again to lob it into Kyla, who converted a 3-point play. Another lob from Alexis to Roehrig capped the run before Duop hit a meaningless 3-pointer at the end.
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