Cardiac Cats part two -- NWMSU Women beat Truman in double overtime

When Northwest Missouri State's football team walked off the field and Coach Mel Tjeerdsma retired after becoming the winningest head coach in Northwest Missouri State history, little did people know that this was only act one of the drama -- the women's basketball team has taken up the slack and become the Cardiac Cats on the hardwoods. With 3-point shooter Shelly Martin sidelined with an illness, Northwest went into Truman shorthanded, changing the chemistry once again and forcing them to go with a different lineup than what they had planned. It was a matchup between the top offensive team in the MIAA against one of the top defensive teams in the MIAA and Truman completely outplayed Northwest in the stat chart. They outrebounded Northwest 60-44; they took 87 shots from the floor to 69 for Northwest, and they only surrendered the ball three more times than Northwest (17-14). Without Martin, it turned out that Northwest Missouri's 3-point game, outside of Ashley Thayer, was nonexistent; Northwest only made three 3-pointers on the night, all by Thayer. Abby Henry could not buy a bucket and was limited to six points, hampering their guard play even more.

And yet somehow, against all the odds, on the road, Northwest pulled off the 73-72 road win. Ashley Thayer played the game of her life in playing 43 minutes and hitting two of her 3-pointers right when they were needed. Gentry Dietz outdid herself once again as she scored 27 points and made a strong case for MIAA Player of the Week. Gabby Curtis continued to prove herself to be a clutch shooter as she added 15 and hit the go-ahead jumper in the second overtime. And most importantly, Northwest beat Truman at its own game, holding the Bulldogs to 32.2% shooting in the win.

The win put Northwest in the thick of things in the MIAA conference race -- they have two conference losses and Emporia dropped a 68-60 loss to Pitt State, meaning that they were only one game back of the conference leaders. It also means that should Northwest run the table the rest of the way, they would be in control of their own destiny and win the MIAA title, seeing that Emporia and Washburn still have to play each other twice. Earlier this year, Northwest won at UNO and Pitt, two places that have historically not been kind to them. Saturday night, they won at Truman as well, snapping a 3-game losing streak at that building, meaning that the seniors won there for the first time in their careers.

It seems as though the weather has sapped the shooting touch out of a bunch of area teams. Northeast Nodaway's girls missed a ton of shots although they still got the easy win over Stewartsville. Only Lauren Null and Liz Novak seemed to be able to find the range with any kind of consistency in Worth County's 29-22 shocker over Gallatin for their first win. And Northwest could not find the range early against Truman, missing their first six shots before finally Gentry Dietz got one to drop four minutes into the game. To show the kind of effect that the weather has seemingly had on area basketball, the two teams started off a combined six for 26 from the field. But then Truman did what they had been struggling to do all year -- hit 3-pointers; Amy Galey hit one to make it 7-2 at the 15:33 mark. Truman would go on to hit 8 for 18 from behind the arc, one of their best 3-point showings all year.

Gabby Curtis got a steal and drive and then Tara Roach found Kyla Roehrig inside to cut Truman's lead to 8-6, but then Megan Sharpe of Truman converted a 3rd-chance layup to make it 10-6 and start a big run for Truman. Brenna Daniels got a 3-pointer and Megan Sharpe connected again to make it 15-6 and Northwest was reeling by the second media timeout of the half. Abby Henry, who had been penetrating early, started off 0 for 4 from the field but finally drew a foul and hit both free throws, but then Jenny Dorman hit Truman's third 3-pointer of the night and Truman was up 18-8 at the 7:56 mark -- Truman had averaged less than four 3-pointers a game coming into the matchup. At that point, Truman had more than doubled Northwest on the boards, outrebounding them 21-10.

Northwest finally got going as Gabby Curtis hit a jumper and then Gentry Dietz hit Kyla Roehrig in the paint to make it 18-12. Curtis found Roehrig in the paint again and Monai Douglass came off the bench to hit a layup to make it 18-16 at the 5:28 mark as Truman suddenly couldn't find the range. Bianca Szafarowicz scored to make it 20-16 but Gentry Dietz got a putback and Curtis found her inside for a layup to tie the game up. Gentry then kicked it out to Ashley Thayer for a 3-pointer to make it 23-20 to give Northwest its first lead of the night at the 2:15 mark. Abby Henry found Dietz alone inside to make it 25-20 before Becka McHenry hit a jumper to make it 25-22 with six seconds left. With the kind of shooting and rebounding start that Northwest had, they were fortunate to be up three.

Becka McHenry did all she could to keep Truman in the game to start the second half as she scored the first six points for Truman, who cut Northwest's lead to 32-30 by the 16:32 mark. Northwest continued to struggle from the field but managed to stay ahead as Abby Henry, Monai Douglass, and Gabby Curtis all hit free throws as Northwest maintained a 2-4 point lead for the next four minutes. Finally, Abby Henry's layup at the 10:32 mark broke a seven minute drought from the field and Gabby Curtis followed with a steal and drive to make it 40-34 with 8:59 left. Ashley Thayer found Gentry Dietz in the paint and Northwest took its biggest lead of the night at 42-34 at the 7:52 mark. Nichole Gloor countered with a layup for Truman, but Gabby Curtis answered with a layup to put Northwest seemingly in control at 44-36.

But once again, the 3-pointer, which had not been there for Truman all year, suddenly started dropping as Jenny Dorman hit one from downtown to cut it to three. Megan Sharpe followed with a layup to make it 44-41 with six minutes left in regulation. Gabby Curtis turned it over, but stole it right back for a layup that made it a two-possession game it 46-41 with 5:29 left. Tara Roach hit her only bucket of the game to keep it at five, but then once again, Truman fought back, finally launching a 3-pointer to tie it at 49 with 2:33 left from Breanna Daniels. Jennifer Conway scored following a turnover by Northwest and an offensive board with 1:50 left, but then Kyla Roehrig cleaned up on a Gentry Dietz miss to tie it at 51 with 1:26 left. Jennifer Conway missed on the other end for Truman and Gabby Curtis found Gentry Dietz inside to make it 53-51 with 39 seconds. But then Jennifer Conway slipped into the paint following a loose ball scramble and scored to tie it up at 53 with 16 seconds left. Northwest had a chance to win in regulation, but Abby Henry's shot missed and the game went to overtime. The specter of years past had to weigh on Northwest's minds -- they had lost their last two overtimes at Truman.

Northwest won the opening tip to start overtime, but Gentry Dietz missed two free throws and then Breanna Daniels converted with a 3-pointer on the other end to make it 56-53. Truman got the stop at the other end and had a golden opportunity to make it a two possession game, but Jennifer Conway's shot missed and Gabby Curtis hit a jumper to make it 56-55 with 3:30 left in the first overtime. The two teams traded scores for the next three minutes until Megan Sharpe hit two free throws to put her team up 62-59 with 48 seconds left. But then Gabby Curtis hit Ashley Thayer, who picked just the right time to warm up and her 3-pointer tied the game up at 62 with 39 seconds left. Truman worked the clock down to 9 seconds, but Gentry Dietz blocked Conway's shot attempt giving Northwest another chance to win it. But Gabby Curtis missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, forcing the second overtime.

The second overtime started off the same way as the first -- with a golden opportunity for Truman to make it a two possession game and force Northwest to play catchup. Nicole Gloor hit a 3-pointer for Truman following an offensive glass by Truman, Megan Sharpe got a steal for the Bulldogs, and Truman had a chance to go up 5 or 6. But once again, their shot went astray; Gentry Dietz got the defensive board and Gabby Curtis hit Ashley Thayer for a 3-pointer to tie it at 65. After the outcome of this game, Truman could only shake their heads and wonder what if. The game was tied at 67, 68, and 70 as neither team could take control of the game. Gentry Dietz was doing all she could for Northwest during that stretch, scoring four out of her team's five points during that stretch.

Following a layup by Megan Sharpe that tied it up at 70 with one minute left, Truman had a golden opportunity to run down the clock as Dietz made a rare mistake and turned it over with 46 seconds left. But Truman had to inbound underneath the Northwest basket and had to go the length of the floor; Northwest forced a five second violation and got the ball right back. With 39 seconds left, Gabby Curtis hit a jumper from the free throw line to make it 72-70. Becka McHenry, who had carried her team so well at the start of the second half, went in for a layup attempt with 25 seconds left but Ashley Thayer defended it perfectly, Gentry Dietz got the board, and Monai Douglass made one out of two to make it 73-70 with 20 seconds left.

Truman called timeout with 12.2 seconds left to set up a play and they tried to get it to Breanna Daniels for a 3-pointer, but Gentry Dietz chased her off the shot and her long two went astray and Megan Sharpe hit a meaningless layup with 1 second left. Northwest was able to inbound it and run out the clock for the win.