11 Players Score as Northwest Women Beat Lincoln 81-59

Northwest Missouri State's women needed to go to an unfamiliar gym and take care of business against MIAA tailender Lincoln. The Blue Tigers were hungry for any kind of a win as they are now 2-19 overall and 1-16 in the conference. Lincoln, despite their record, has been a pain in the side of many different teams in the conference. Western needed a last-second layup to win in Jefferson City earlier this year. Truman, which took Northwest to double overtime, beat them by only eight. They lost by only 10 to nationally ranked Washburn and took Fort Hayes, the team that rained the 3-point parade on Northwest, to overtime before losing. They lost to Southwest Baptist on the road by only three and at Southern by only five. The Blue Tigers have the horses to compete in the brutal MIAA. However, they are down to their last six players as they lost two after the first half of the season due to eligibility issues.

For Northwest, they needed to avoid looking past Lincoln and looking ahead to a showdown with archrival Western. Bria Dillard and Jackeya Mitchell scored the first four points of the game for Lincoln, but after that, it was all Northwest. The suddenly stingy Bearcats, who had just held Pitt State to a season low 50 points on defense, followed that up with their second lowest total of the season by holding Lincoln to 59 points on defense while taking care of business on the offensive end and doing nothing to hurt their MIAA leading scoring average. They had a balanced attack with six different players scoring nine points or more.

Abby Henry found Kyla Roehrig on a layup and then Shelly Martin found her open inside for a 3-point play to put Northwest ahead for good. Lincoln had success on the offensive boards early, but could not get anything to go down early as Abby Henry found Roehrig again to make it 7-4. Gentry Dietz found Shelly Martin open for three to make it 10-4 with 15:26 left.

Lincoln fought back from their early deficit, using a 3-pointer from Quenita Washington to get to within 10-8. The Northwest lead stayed around two and four points until the 10:16 mark, when Gabby Curtis found Abby Henry open from downtown to make it 18-12. Melissa Nyquist found Shelly Martin open from downtown for her second 3-pointer of the half to make it 21-12 with 9:39 left.

Lincoln chipped away, getting to within 23-17 with 7:22 left in the half, but Kyla Roehrig sparked Northwest as she got a putback and then got a steal that led to a Shelly Martin 3-pointer that pushed the lead into double digits at 28-17. Gabby Curtis followed with a steal following a Gentry Dietz steal after a pass from Shelly Martin to make it 30-17.

Lincoln did not get within double digits again as Northwest answered a Vivian Essuon layup with an Abby Henry jumper; Henry then found Gentry Dietz in the paint to make it 34-19 with 3:19 left. Lincoln tried to hang around with Quenita Washington's second 3-pointer of the half, but Northwest answered with a putback from Curtis and a jumper from Tara Roach in the paint to make it 38-22 as Northwest led 41-26 at the break.

Vivian Essuon and the rest of the Blue Tigers were fairly competitive on points in the paint. However, Northwest did a much better job of taking advantage of Lincoln's turnovers, racking up a 15-2 advantage on points off turnovers at the half.

Jackeya Mitchell hit a shot in the paint to start the scoring for Lincoln in the second half, but a layup from Kyla Roehrig and another from Dietz off a pass from Shelly Martin gave Northwest its largest lead so far at 45-28 with 18:10 left. The game stayed between 13 and 17 points for the next four minutes until Shelly Martin found Abby Henry for a 3-pointer and Monai Dougless found Tara Roach for a jumper in transition to make it 59-40 with 12:37 left. Ashley Williams hit two free throws for Lincoln to cut it to 17, but Abby Henry found Tara Roach for a jumper and Roach connected again off a pass from Kyla Roehrig. Roach was on fire as she found Gabby Curtis open for a layup following a steal by Roehrig to make it 65-42 with 9:59 left.

Quenita Washington hit a 3-pointer and then Cherakie Barrett got a steal to make it 65-47, but Abby Henry hit Gentry Dietz in the paint for a layup and then Gabby Curtis scored in transition to push it back to 22 at 69-47. Bria Dillard hit a free throw for Lincoln, but Abby Henry hit a jumper in the paint on a possession kept alive by three offensive boards to make it 71-48 with 5:59 left.

Coach Gene Steinmeyer put in his subs with 4:56 left and they didn't let Lincoln get any closer than 17 points. Monai Douglass got a free throw and found Melissa Nyquist open for a jumper. Jennifer Jasinski hit a free throw while Alexis Boeh hit a pair of layups in the paint and added a blocked shot. Meridee Scott added a steal and drive in the closing seconds.