Northwest Missouri State's women picked up their second straight road win, getting a 90-77 win over UNO in a game that represented a homecoming for a lot of the players. Omaha native Abby Henry tied a career high with 33 points, going to the line 13 times in the process. Another Omaha product, Tara Roach, picked up her first double double after coming close the last few times, getting 10 points and 11 boards in the win. Kyla Roehrig continued to be a beast on the boards, getting 14 and adding 3 blocks as well. They got four people in double figures and two others came close.
The game was important for other reasons as well -- last year, Northwest was surprising everyone and looked to be hitting their stride before a loss at UNO derailed them to some extent. The Bearcats wanted to finish their present road trip at 2-2 following losses to Emporia and Washburn to start off the trip. And they wanted to be able to end on a winning note -- their next game will not be until Saturday, due to finals week. A loss would have left a bad taste in their mouths.
Northwest won this game on the line, getting 24 free throws to only 10 for UNO, which only shot 50% at the line. They won the rebounding battle 49-41 and shot 44.6% from behind the arc. The Bearcats, normally a team that forces a lot more turnovers than the other team, lost the turnover battle for the second consecutive night, surrendering the ball 19 times to 15 for UNO. But that did not matter because they were able to find other ways to win. The same thing happened against Pitt; the Bearcats lost the turnover battle in that game, but killed the Gorillas on the boards in that win.
Nobody was able to lead by more than two points until Jessica Zaruba's layup put UNO up 13-10 with 13:57 left in the first half. But then Northwest took control of the game, using a layup from Abby Henry to start an 8-0 run. Kyla Roehrig added a free throw, Henry added a fast break jumper, and then Kyla Roehrig found Henry open for a 3-pointer to make it 18-13 with 12:24 left in the first half.
Paige Frauendorfer got a layup and then Kaite Kane blocked Kyla Roehrig's layup attempt on the other end, but Tara Roach was there to clean up for the Bearcats. It was this sort of hustle play from Roach plus her sweet outside jumper that she developed that earned her the starting nod this year. Abby Henry then followed with a steal and found Gabby Curtis for a layup; Henry would go on to have 5 steals that night. That made it 22-15 with 10:30 left in the half. Jordan Spencer got a tip-in for UNO, but Northwest kept pulling away as Abby Henry found Shelly Martin for a 3-pointer and Martin was fouled and turned it into a four-point play to make it 26-17.
Abby Henry's 3-point play with 8:56 left made it 29-20, but then UNO got hot from behind the arc, making three straight 3-pointers from Jessica Zaruba, Heather Pohl, and Jamie Nash to make it 31-29 with 7:00 left. Gabby Curtis found Kyla Roehrig inside to make it 33-29 and Abby Henry got another steal and drive to make it 35-29, but then Jamie Nash hit another 3-pointer to make it 35-32 as UNO's torrid shooting was keeping them in the game. But then Henry found Shelly Martin for a 3-pointer and then on the other end, a UNO 3-pointer finally went astray and Tara Roach secured the defensive board and drew the foul, hitting both free throws to make it 40-32 with 5:23 left.
That play seemed to change the momentum in Northwest's favor for good. Carly Cator hit a free throw for UNO, but then Candace Boeh found Abby Henry for a 3-pointer to make it 43-33. Northwest held UNO without a field goal for the last 5:23 of the first half as they pulled away to a 45-34 lead at the break as Henry found Martin open for a jumper at the 1:09 mark. On the other end, after being unable to miss for a while, UNO suddenly couldn't get the lid off the rim.
Gabby Curtis started off strongly for Northwest. Abby Henry started off with a layup and then Curtis got a steal and a layup to make it 49-34 just 24 seconds into the second half. UNO started hitting again as a 3-pointer from Jessica Zaruba and a jumper from Paige Frauendorfer made it 49-39. But then Curtis struck again, this time converting a layup into a 3-point play to make it 52-39 with 17:52 left. The lead grew to 17 as Abby Henry and Gabby Curtis got layups to make it 56-39 with 16:37 left.
Northwest then went cold, missing several shots in a row and only managing one point over the next 5:20 as UNO chipped away at the lead and got it back to within 10 again. Jordan Spencer got a layup, followed by a 3-pointer and two free throws from Sara Reeves, and a free throw from Katie Kane with 12:28 left that made it 57-47. The field goal drought increased to six minutes and UNO cut it to 59-51 at the 10:32 mark, but Northwest got into the bonus and Henry hit a pair of free throws to get it back into double digits again. Shelly Martin threw it into Kyle Roehrig for Northwest's first field goal in over six minutes and then UNO missed two front ends of one and one's before Ashley Thayer hit a 3-pointer after a pass from Tara Roach to make it 66-51 with 9:30 left. Thayer had been fighting a shooting slump over the last few games, but she came out of that slump with a vengance, hitting three 3-pointers in Saturday night's game.
Jessica Zaruba and Jamie Nash each hit shots to cut Northwest's lead to 66-55, but then Thayer hit another 3-pointer off an assist from Shelly Martin and then Kyla Roehrig followed with a free throw to make it 70-55. Tara Roach followed with a pair of free throws and then Thayer connected with her third 3-pointer in three minutes to push it to 75-55 with 6:46 left.
But once again, no lead is safe when playing in the MIAA as UNO cut it to 12 in just under a two minute span. Paige Frauendorfer hit a 3-pointer and then added a pair of free throws as UNO got into the double bonus. Heather Pohl then added another 3-pointer and a tip-in and all of a sudden, it was 77-65 with 4:54 left. But then Gabby Curtis hit Kyla Roehrig inside for a bucket to break the run and then Roehrig got a block on the other end and got the ensuing board. Roehrig then found Abby Henry open for a layup with 4:02 left to put the lead back up to 16 at 81-65 with 4:02 left.
UNO made one last run at it, getting a tip-in from Heather Pohl and a 3-pointer from Sara Reeves to make it 81-71 with 2:40 left. Jamie Nash's layup with 1:19 left made it 84-75. But then Abby Henry hit a free throw with 1:12 left to keep it a four possession game. UNO missed a 3-pointer on the other end that would have made it 7 and then Gabby Curtis got the ensuing board and found Tara Roach open for a layup with 52 seconds left that put the game out of reach at 87-75. Shelly Martin hit two free throws and Tara Roach one down the stretch for Northwest.
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