Bearcat Women Go Ice Cold in Southern Loss

Northwest Missouri State's women went ice cold in a 70-62 loss in Joplin Saturday as they concluded their regular season before the MIAA Tournament this week after having led by as many as 14 points early in the second half. The Bearcats had a similar bad experience in Joplin back in 2003-2004 as they went 24-7 for the year, won the MIAA Tournament, and went to the National Tournament but dropped a 60-59 heartbreaker to a Lion squad that was peaking at the right time that year in Joplin. History repeated itself again as Northwest shot 28.1% in the second half against Southern. The loss did not hurt Northwest's MIAA chances -- the Bearcats had clinched the MIAA title the game before with their Senior Night win over Southwest Baptist and Washburn's overtime loss to Emporia State. But they hurt any chances they had of moving up in the regional standings. Now, the task will shift to focusing on Truman -- the Bearcats will play Truman at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium in the first round of the MIAA Tournament. The outside shooting for Northwest was nonexistent as they had only one 3-pointer in the loss, allowing Southern to clog up the paint. The rebounding was not there either as they were outrebounded 44-36 in the loss.

Kyla Roehrig opened the scoring for the Bearcats with a putback with 19:43 left and Gabby Curtis followed with a layup that made it 4-0. Larrita Garrison's layup made it 8-4, but Gabby Curtis hit Kyla Roehrig in the paint and then Abby Henry found Curtis for a layup with 16:00 to make it 8-3.

Gentry Dietz's free throw made it 11-5, but Southern would fight back to within one behind Erin Rice's 3-pointer with 14:00 to make it 11-10. The lead would stay from one to four until Roehrig's 3-point play with 8:30 left made it 21-15. Gentry Dietz's free throw with 6:08 would stretch the lead to seven and then she added a 3-point play to make it 29-19 with 5:41 left in the first half. Afton Baldwin's 3-pointer with 3:52 left cut it to 31-24, but then Gabby Curtis found Kyla Roehrig for a layup to make it 39-28 at the half.

Northwest dominated the first half in points in the paint at 22-14, but they had a much harder time getting the ball inside as they would be outscored 18-10 in the paint in the second half. Even more telling was the fact that Northwest did not get a single fast break point in the second half, meaning Southern was able to dictate the pace in the second half. That was similar to the 2003-2004 meeting in which Southern was able to dictate the pace in that game as well.

Gentry Dietz of all people hit Northwest's only 3-pointer early in the second half to make it 42-28 but then Southern stated going to the paint at will as they got three straight layups to cut it back to 10; one from Kelby Fritz and two from Jasmine Lovejoy to make it 44-34. Southern continued to claw away, getting free throws from Larrita Garrison to cut it to 45-39 as Northwest was making a futile effort to establish their 3-point game.

Baskets by Abby Henry and Gentry Dietz kept it at 9 points for a while, but then Afton Baldwin struck again for Southern, this time bringing it to within 49-45 with 11:22 left. Erin Rice then got a steal and drive to make it 49-47 before Gabby Curtis hit a jumper and Kyla Roehrig hit two free throws to temporarily stop the bleeding. But then Northwest would go cold for the next three minutes as Erin Rice hit a 3-pointer following an offensive board and then later hit a layup to give Southern its first lead of the game at 54-52 with 6:36 left.

Northwest has been in this situation many times where the other team made a big run or even took the lead and they would fight back and win. They have made a living off of winning these close games. But the moral of the story this time around seemed to be that when you live on the edge, eventually you will fall off. Gentry Dietz got a 3-point play for Northwest off a pass from Kyla Roehrig to put Northwest back in front 56-54, only to have Larrita Garrison hit a 3-pointer to put Southern back in front 57-56 with 6:04 left. There followed a momentum changing play as Erin Rice got a steal for Southern which led to a free throw by Jasmine Lovejoy to make it 58-56. Lovejoy missed the second, only to have Rice get the offensive board which led to Afton Baldwin's 3-pointer to make it 61-56 as Southern got four straight points without Northwest having the benefit of touching the basketball.

Northwest fought back to within one as Southern missed two chances to extend their lead, leading to baskets from Abby Henry and Kyla Roehrig to make it 63-62 with 2:33 left. But then Erin Rice hit two free throws and then got a steal of the ensuing Northwest possession which led to a Lovejoy layup to make it 67-62 with 1:54 left; Northwest did not score again as they missed four shots from the field and missed two free throws in the final 1:54.