Northwest overcame ice cold shooting, referees, and a highly physical Pitt State squad to beat the Gorillas 61-50 last Saturday. The officiating errors started even before the game as the referees never bothered to inspect the ball and never discovered that they were playing with a boys ball until five minutes into the game, which seemed to throw both teams out of their rhythm for the game. The weather didn't seem to help as the yucky conditions led to all sorts of sloppy play and astronomically low shooting percentages from both teams. And the officials seemingly adopted a "no blood no foul" policy, which meant that Pitt State could push and shove with impunity.
But Northwest played through the less than ideal circumstances and had one of their best defensive showings of the year in holding Pitt State to a season-low 50 points to win Saturday night. They have found many different ways to win games from outscoring teams, to getting on the line more, to grinding it out. The Bearcats beat Pitt at their own game as Pitt remains one of the most physical, grind it out teams in the MIAA despite having a new coach. Despite sloppy play and Pitt pressure that they put on early, Northwest used free throws from Kyla Roehrig, a Shelly Martin to Gabby Curtis pass that led to a pullup, and a Curtis to Gentry Dietz pass that turned into a hook shot to take a 6-0 lead at the 17:08 mark.
Pitt went to their grind it out style and rebounded at will during the next stretch as they cut the deficit to 6-3 at the 15:09 mark. Despite sloppy play on the offensive end for Northwest, they managed to get out to a 13-3 lead as Shelly Martin hit Tara Roach on the left side, Abby Henry hit Ashley Thayer on the left wing for a 3-pointer, and Gentry Dietz found Kyla Roehrig inside at the 11:30 mark. Roach, who was seemingly buoyed by her old high school teammates forming a cheering section and holding a "Tara always scores" sign, had her second straight productive offensive outing, getting eight points off the bench. Pitt has one of the few front lines that can match up with Northwest with one player at 6'3" and another at 6'6". But Kyla said that it was fun to go up against players her own size; she has a sister who is just as tall as she is and who played in Division I for Michigan State. She played well on the floor against the Gorilla squad, getting 15 boards and several blocks.
Pitt fought back as Brooke Conley scored off a drive, Larissa Richards converted a 3-point play, and Alexa Bordewick hit a 3-pointer as Gentry Dietz picked up her second foul during that stretch trying to guard Richards and sat out the rest of the half. Larissa Richards is the half-sister of Stacy Cameron of Sheridan. Pitt was within four at 15-11, but Kyla Roehrig hit Shelly Martin from the baseline and then Abby Henry hit Martin on the left wing for a 3-pointer to get Northwest back on track and put them up 20-11. Henry added a pullup shot over one of Pitt's skyscrapers. Lauren Brown hit a free throw for Pitt but despite the officials allowing Pitt players to go all over Northwest's backs without blowing the whistle and not calling a foul on a play in which one of the Pitt players gave Abby Henry a bloody nose during a collision that sidelined her for the last five minutes, Northwest continued to increase their lead as Gabby Curtis went coast to coast against the Pitt press following a handoff and screen from Kyla Roehrig in the backcourt and then Shelly Martin pushed it up the floor and found Curtis open on the left wing to make it 25-12 before Richards' inside shot with 10 seconds left cut it to 27-16 at the half.
But Pitt had gone too far in their efforts to see how far they could go in being physical as Abby Henry came back with a vengeance to start the second half. Northwest did a much better job of attacking the basket and Henry, who scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half, got going with a pair of drives that turned into free throws. Gabby Curtis added a drive and Tara Roach got a drive and threw it into Kyla Roehrig that made it 36-16 with just under 15 minutes left.
But then Pitt tried to follow Hayes' lead and rain 3-pointers on Northwest and used consecutive 3's by Amanda Orloske to get going offensively. They used another 3-pointer from Alexa Bordewick to make it 38-27. The Gorillas have one of the deepest benches in the conference and used all 14 of their players so that they could have fresh legs on the floor at all times and wear down Northwest with their depth. Abby Henry got a steal and pullup to make it 40-27, but Pitt continued to grab and hold with impunity as the referees refused to make any foul calls during the next stretch and they made use of their depth on the offensive end as four different Pitt players scored during an 8-0 run that mde it 40-35 with 8:28 left.
Abby Henry got a badly needed pullup off a Kyla Roehrig screen and answered a Lauren Brown shot as she found Gabby Curtis for a drive to get Northwest back on track. Gentry Dietz hit a pair of free throws and then Tara Roach, who had gotten a hard foul by one of the Pitt players that was not called by the officials a few minutes earlier, came back and made a pair of hustle plays as she beat the defense down the floor on one play and got a pass from Abby Henry and then cut inside for another bucket to make it 50-39 with 5:29 left in the game.
But once again, Pitt's depth began to show as they put in some fresh legs and Bailey Waugh hit a 3-pointer to ignite Pitt again. Abby Henry hit a pair of free throws to answer but Laura Glenn hit a high-arcing jumper to make it 50-44. Abby Henry scored off a drive and Kyla Roehrig hit a free throw but Bordewick hit her third 3-pointer of the night and Drew Roberts hit a 3-pointer off a steal to make it 55-50 with 2:05 left. The lid was on the rim for Northwest as Larissa Richards blocked a Dietz drive attempt and Pitt had a chance to cut it to two and shades of Fort Hayes were looming everywhere as the Gorillas had made three straight 3-pointers. But Laura Glenn missed a quick 3-pointer and Dietz, who had hustled down the floor on defense, got the defensive board. Abby Henry hit a free throw and Glenn's 3-pointer that would have cut it to four was in and out and Henry went six for six from the line in the last minute for the win.
The win put Northwest back in control of first place in the MIAA as Washburn lost to a red-hot Fort Hayes team to fall 1 1/2 games back of Northwest. Emporia State trails Northwest by one game; should Northwest win out, they will win their first MIAA title since 1983-1984.
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