Northwest Women Celebrate New Year's Eve with 77-61 Win

Northwest Missouri State got into an early hole against MIAA tail-ender Lincoln, but then turned around and took control of the game and ran away with a 77-61 win in their first game back from the holiday break. It looked like Lincoln would simply backdoor Northwest to death in the early stages of the game as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead behind the post play of Vivian Essuon in the early going. Donisha Bronnon added a couple of buckets and Lincoln raised their lead to 10-5 at the 14:06 mark. It looked like it would be one of those games in which the cold weather would sap the energy out of both teams' play and whoever would outslop the other would win.

Northwest had their struggles on the offensive end as they were doing too much staring instead of working the ball and not getting good looks as a result. But finally, they started to get untracked as Monai Douglass came off the bench to give them a spark with a pair of assists to Gabby Curtis and Gentry Dietz to make it 10-9 with 12:33 left. Lincoln went back up by 5, aided by a 3-pointer from Bria Dillard, but then Kyla Roehrig grabbed a pair of putbacks to cut it back to one. Vivian Essuon scored again in the post, but then Gabby Curtis alertly pushed it up the floor and found Abby Henry at the top of the key for a 3-pointer to tie it at 16.

Coach Gene Steinmyer then changed up his defense; he went from his usual man to man to a zone look and brought in Alexis and Candace Boeh, neither of who played in the Fort Hayes game two weeks ago. But the twin sisters brought some much-needed energy and fresh legs to the team on defense as Northwest held Lincoln scoreless for three minutes and built up a lead. Lincoln hung in gamely against Northwest, but was no match for their depth as Steinmeyer could use his deep bench while Lincoln only had seven players. Gabby Curtis scored from the right side and then Candace Boeh grabbed a putback to make it 20-16. Essuon got a putback for Lincoln, but a rested Kyla Roehrig came back for a 3rd chance putback and then Shelly Martin hit the first of five 3-pointers for Northwest to make it 25-18 with 6:31 left. The deep bench gave Steinmeyer the luxury of resting his main players longer and letting them come back fresh.

Ashley Williams scored to make it 25-20, but then Gentry Dietz scored from inside as Shelly Martin got her the ball; Abby Henry kicked it out to Gabby Curtis for 3, Kyla Roehrig cleaned up on a miss in transition and then scored off a Curtis drive to put Northwest up 34-20 at the 4:36 mark. Bria Dillard scored a layup for Lincoln, but then Abby Henry took a charge, which took away Lincoln's aggression for the next few minutes while Meridee Scott came off the bench and found Shelly Martin for a 3-pointer and hit one of her own to make it 40-22.

Vivian Essuon hit consecutive shots to cut Lincoln's deficit to 45-31 early in the second half, but then Shelly Martin hit a 3-pointer in transition as Abby Henry found her in transition and then Kyla Roehrig got an off-balance putback to make it 50-31. On the other end, Northwest made an adjustment as they started collapsing on Essuon and stripping her of the ball the second it arrived in the post, causing some turnovers. Lincoln tried to hang around, but then post player Gentry Dietz started playing like a point guard as she hit Gabby Curtis and Tara Roach from the left baseline and Ashley Thayer for a 3-pointer from the wing; that was three assists on three consecutive trips down the floor. Monai Douglass found Abby Henry on the left baseline and then the high-energy crew of Alexis and Candace Boeh came back in and Alexis hit a shot from the left elbow as nobody came out and guarded her to make it 61-38 with 12 minutes left.

The referees began giving Lincoln some sympathy calls at that point, and Northwest went through a long scoring lull, but then Steinmeyer put his starters back in and Shelly Martin scored over a Kyla Roehrig screen, Abby Henry scored a pair of free throws after Martin got a steal in the post, and then Shelly Martin hit her 5th 3-pointer of the night off an Abby Henry drive and kickout to give Northwest its biggest lead of the night at 68-38 before Northwest cleared its bench the rest of the way. To show the kind of depth that Northwest had that night, all but one of their players scored that night and nobody played for more than 28 minutes.