Northwest Missouri State's women advanced as far as any team ever has in school history with their 77-61 win over Tarleton State Saturday night. The TexAnns were overmatched by the Bearcats' size and could not shut down Kyla Roehrig as they ended their season. Northwest advanced to the South Central Regional Finals to play Central Oklahoma Monday night at 7:00 p.m. UCO shocked Northeastern State in the other regional semifinal.
Northwest did not get the torrid shooting that they had in their first round game, but still shot 46.7% while holding Tarleton to 38%. There were a lot of turnovers on both sides, but Northwest beat Tarleton on the boards, 45-33. Kyla Roehrig got a double double with 26 points and 17 boards while Gabby Curtis got 22 and Gentry Dietz 17. Northwest beat Tarleton 19-8 on the free throw line. Besides Roehrig, Gabby Curtis got 9 boards and Dietz got 7. Tara Roach came off the bench and played extended minutes due to Gentry Dietz's foul trouble and collected six boards.
Northwest fell behind early as both teams showed their nerves and turned the ball over a lot in the early going. Tarleton got their points off layups from Shelby Adamson and Kiara WRight, a jumper from Morgan Stehling, and free throws from Kelsey Benford and Shelby Adamson. Northwest countered with layups from Kyla Roehrig and Gabby Curtis as well as a putback from Roehrig as they trailed 10-6 at the 16:46 mark.
They continued to trail but then, getting motivation from a Tarleton band that was constantly heckling the Northwest players before being stopped by NCAA and school officials before the game, they warmed up. Abby Henry hit a pair of free throws and then Abby got a defensive board and fed Gentry Dietz in the paint. Curtis then got a layup in the paint and then Tara Roach came off the bench and found Kyla in the paint. Gabby Curtis followed with a pullup and then Roach found her for another. Gabby Curtis then found Kyla Roehrig for a layup to cap the run and put Northwest up 22-12 at the 10:22 mark.
The teams played evenly during the next stretch as Kiara Wright missed a layup but then got her own miss and fed Kelsey Benford. Benford got a block on the other end of Roehrig, but Kyla got it back and fed Gentry for a layup. Benford's layup was countered by a free throw from Kyla Roehrig and a pass from Abby Henry to Gentry Dietz inside to make it 27-16 with 8:51 left.
The game was scoreless for the next 2 1/2 minutes until Kyla Roehrig broke the drought with a free throw. Gabby Curtis added two more with 6:07 left in the first half to make it 30-16. Tarleton hung around, trading buckets with Northwest for a minute before getting a 3-pointer from Sonya Sundberg to make it 33-23 with 4:44 left. Kiara Wright's 3-point play got it back under double digits at 35-26 with 4:08 left before Abby Henry found Gentry Dietz inside again and Gabby Curtis added a steal and drive to make it 39-26 with 2:24 left in the first half. Tarleton closed the half on a 6-0 run behind free throws from Shelby Adamson and jumpers by Sonya Sundberg and Morgan Stehling to make it 39-32 at the break.
Northwest was dominating the half on points in the paint and second chance points. Northwest outscored Tarleton 26-18 in the paint and 13-4 in second chance points. They also outscored Tarleton 12-8 in points off turnovers.
Tarleton started off the second half strongly as layups from Kiara Wright and Sonya Sundberg made it 41-36 with 18:59 left, but the Abby Henry to Gentry Dietz combination clicked again for a 3-point play. Kyla Roehrig cleaned up on her own miss to get it back to double digits again at 46-36 with 17:50 left.
The teams traded buckets over the next few minutes as Tara Roach found Gentry Dietz for a layup and Kyla Roehrig cleaned up on her own miss for Northwest and Shelby Adamson got a pair of layups to counter for Tarleton. It was during that stretch that Gentry Dietz picked up her fourth foul and sat down. But Tara Roach came off the bench and was more than an adequate replacement for the Bearcats. All year since Gentry's return, both Roach and Alexis Boeh have come in and given the Bearcats a big shot of energy off the bench.
Kiara Wright's layup made it 50-42 with 13:47 left, but then the ensuing Northwest possession was kept alive as Abby Henry got an offensive board off a Tara Roach miss. Abby missed her putback try, but Roach was there for the offensive board and drew the foul and Gabby Curtis found Shelly Martin for a layup on Northwest's third chance. Kyla Roehrig blocked Kiara Wright's layup attempt and Shelby Adamson's layup attempt was no good as Gabby Curtis got the board. Gabby pushed it up to Shelly Martin, who hit a 3-pointer and drew a foul on Lisa Parker for a 4-point play to make it 56-42 with 12:52 left.
Northwest went into a three minute scoring drought as Tarleton got baskets from Kiara WRight and Sonya Rundberg to make it 56-46. Gabby Curtis hit a 3-pointer, but that was answered by Shelby Adamson to keep it at 10 with 9:16 left. But then Northwest answered with free throws from Gabby Curtis and Abby Henry to make it 63-49 with 8:32 left to get it back up to 14 again.
Northwest went another two minutes without scoring, but Tarleton turned it over twice and Kyla Roehrig blocked a layup attempt in the meantime as the TexAnn's only score was a layup from Wright to make it 63-51. Finally, Tara Roach hit Kyla inside for a 3-point play to make it 66-51 with 5:27 left.
Tarleton used a 3-pointer from Sonya Sundberg and a free throw from Kiara Wright to get back to 11, but then free throws from Kyla Roehrig and Gabby Curtis followed by a layup from Curtis in transition pushed it back up to 15 at 70-55 with 4:03 left. Tarleton could not get any closer than 13 the rest of the way as Northwest got a jumper from Abby Henry, free throws from Kyla Roehrig following a steal from Gentry Dietz, and a 3-point play from Gentry.
No comments:
Post a Comment