Northwest Missouri State's women beat Pitt State 84-72 after holding off a Gorilla rally to get their first MIAA. The Bearcats had had two close losses to powerhouse Washburn and defending national champ Emporia. The Bearcats were then faced with the task of going to Pitt State, a place where they have always had trouble playing. The Gorillas had scored at will on them in two regular season games last year before Northwest slowed them down enough to beat them in the tournament in Kansas City.
But this time, everything was turned on its head. Northwest, which struggled to find the range in losses to Washburn and Emporia, suddenly couldn't miss as they shot 54% from the field in the first half and 47.6% for the game and got four people into double figures. Kyla Roehrig was a beast on the boards, getting 14 against a very physical Pitt squad and adding two blocks. There were some more crazy stats as well -- Northwest, one of the best teams in the MIAA in forcing turnovers, forced a season low 12 while surrendering the ball 21 times. Northwest, which came into the game averaging 39 boards and giving up 41 boards, dominated on the boards, outrebounding Pitt 52-38 for the night. Northwest normally wins games by forcing a lot more turnovers than the other team and running up and down the floor, but they showed with Wednesday's win that they could find other ways to win as well.
Instead of the slow starts of the past two games, Northwest got off to a fast start for a change. Abby Henry started off with a jumper and then fed Tara Roach for another shot -- Roach had a hot hand that night as she could not miss from the short corner. Drew Roberts countered with a 3-pointer for Pitt, but Henry scored following a turnover and then Gabby Curtis scored following another turnover.
Baskets by Laura Glenn and Courtney Tate made it 10-7 with 15:56 left, but then Abby Henry got into the paint and hit a layup and then Gabby Curtis followed with a steal and found Henry open with a 3-pointer with 15:26 left. That made it 15-7. Shelly Martin followed with a layup and then Abby Henry got another layup following a turnover to cap the run and make it 19-7 with 13:07 left.
The lead stayed between 8 and 12 for a while as Pitt began hitting some 3-pointers and Ashley Thayer hit Meridee Scott for a 3-pointer, Gabby Curtis added a layup, Curtis found Alexis Boeh open for a jumper, and Curtis hit another jumper for Northwest.
At the 9:30 mark, Northwest put their starters back in and Abby Henry hit Gabby Curtis for a 3-pointer. Curtis then followed by hitting Tara Roach for an open shot, Kyla Roehrig hit Abby Henry for a 3-pointer, and then Henry hit Shelly Martin for another 3-pointer to make it 39-18 with 6:29 left. The avalanche continued even when Roehrig came out as Alexis Boeh hit Shelly Martin for a 3-pointer and then Abby Henry hit another 3-pointer to make it 45-18 with 4:23 left.
But Pitt was saved by the bell as the media timeout came and allowed them to refocus and get back off the floor. Northwest started playing sloppy, getting two turnovers that led to a Laura Glenn jumper and a pair of free throws from Alexa Bordewick. Following another Northwest turnover, Laura Glenn connected again to make it 45-24 with 1:52 left. Pitt State came as close as 46-28 following a block by Larissa Richards -- one of seven for her on the evening -- before Abby Henry found Shelly Martin and then Melissa Nyquist blocked a layup attempt to give Northwest a 49-28 lead at halftime.
Northwest struggled to get untracked in the second half, throwing the ball away twice and missing a layup as well as they failed to score for the first three minutes. In the MIAA, no lead is safe -- even a 27-point lead like the one Northwest had. In fact, several years ago, in a men's game between Emporia and Southern, Emporia was down 26 points with six minutes to go and nearly erased it, having the ball down one at one point before losing by one point in the MIAA Tournament. In the meantime, Pitt threatened to repeat last year's game at their place in which Northwest could not hold a double digit lead to the Gorillas or an 8 point lead with 5:57 left. Laura Glenn hit a free throw, Courtney Tate hit a layup and later got a free throw, and Tate got a steal and layup and all of a sudden, it was 49-34 with 18:20 left. Tara Roach finally broke the run, getting a putback and then answering a 3-pointer with a jumper. Shelly Martin then followed with a layup and then Gabby Curtis hit Kyla Roehrig inside to push it back to 20 at 57-37 with 15:06 left. The lead could have been much less as Pitt State missed four layups during that span.
Pitt began chipping away again as Larissa Richards came off the bench and hit a layup for the Gorillas to start a run. Richards, who for some reason only played 22 minutes, did all she could to help Pitt win as she got 10 boards, 13 points, and 7 blocks for her team. Pitt kept chipping away as Brittnee Foster hit a layup and Courtney Tate hit another to make it 58-45. Alexis Boeh hit a jumper, but then Drew Roberts countered with a 3-pointer to make it 60-48 with 11:19 left. Shelly Martin found Tara Roach for a layup, but Pitt kept right on coming as Alexa Bordewick hit a layup and then Laura Glenn hit a couple of free throws following a Northwest turnover to make it 62-52 with plenty of time left at 10:23.
Pitt had a golden opportunity to make it an 8-point game, forcing another Northwest turnover as they were threatening to beat the Bearcats at their own game. But Tara Roach came up big on defense once again, blocking Larissa Richards' layup attempt that would have made it 8. Northwest missed, but then Glenn missed the front end of a 1 and 1 on the other end and then Kyla Roehrig hit Abby Henry for a jumper to make it 64-52 with 8:52 left.
Northwest finally got some breathing room as Gabby Curtis converted a 3-point play to make it 67-52 with 8:11 left following a missed layup and two missed 3-pointers from Pitt and the lead stayed between 12 and 16 for the next several minutes. Abby Henry cleaned up on her own miss and added a pair of free throws during the stretch. Finally, frustration set in for Pitt State as Kyla Roehrig blocked a layup attempt by Brittnee Foster and got the ensuing rebound and the Pitt State coach said something to Roehrig that the official didn't care to hear and called a technical foul. Shelly Martin's free throws with 3:46 left made it 79-62 with 3:46 left.
Pitt State had one last run left in them as Northwest had three turnovers and a missed layup down the stretch and the Gorillas chipped away at the lead, finally getting it under double digits at 79-70 behind a jumper from Alexa Bordewick with 1:06 left. But then Roehrig was fouled and hit the all-important free throw that made it a four possession game again and Pitt could not get it under double digits again as Shelly Martin and Abby Henry hit free throws in the last minute.
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