Northwest's women held off Northeastern Oklahoma 67-64 Thursday night as Monique Stevens went off on them for a career high 20 points and six 3-pointers. The Riverhawks are one of the most dangerous teams in the conference as they showed the ability to shoot from 25-30 feet away, which stretches out defenses so that they can open up driving lanes. They were one of the most patient teams as well, frequently running down the shot clock before making their move. But when Northwest was able to dictate the tempo and get out and run, that was when they were able to hurt Northeastern Oklahoma.
The visitors from Oklahoma jumped out to a 15-8 lead, working the clock, shooting from everywhere, and limiting Northwest to one shot down the court; Northwest did not get a single offensive board for the first 12 minutes of the game despite their size advantage. But then Meridee Scott hit a 3-pointer from the right side off a fast break to wake Northwest out of their stupor and then hit Ashley Thayer for another to get Northwest right back in the game. Meridee then hit a 3-pointer and Ashleigh Nelson then scored off a Thayer steal to put Northwest in front 19-15.
The Riverhawks jumped back in front 20-19, but then Monique hit a 3-pointer, prompting Northeast Oklahoma to burn a timeout. There are media timeouts every five minutes, so some coaches will burn timeouts right before the media timeout as it serves as a double timeout and breaks the other team's run. But it didn't work this time as Monique hit another shot just inside the arc and then hit another 3-pointer to make it 27-20. Northeastern Oklahoma dialed one of their 30-footers, but then Maggie Marnin scored from inside, Ashley Thayer hit a free throw, Monique pushed it up the floor to Maggie for a free throw, and then Tember Schechinger hit a 3-pointer to put Northwest up double digits at 34-23.
In the Central game, Northwest built up a 16 point lead on hot shooting, only to be undone by hacking and fouling. However, Thursday night was different as they only committed three fouls at the half and 10 for the game and nobody picked up more than three.
Tember hit her second straight 3-pointer to start the second half and then Ashleigh Nelson got behind the defense for two free throws and then got a steal to make it 41-23. The Riverhawks trimmed it to 41-27, but then Annie Matthews got behind the defense and got a pass from Monique to make it 43-27. Northeast Oklahoma made frantic efforts to get back in the game, but everything was going in for Northwest as two 3-pointers by Monique and a pair of inside shots from Maggie kept the margin at 18. For Monique, it was simply a matter of having confidence in her shot; it can mean the difference between shooting 1 for 10 or 6 for 8.
Northwest led 53-35 at the 13:34 mark, but the lead was not safe against a team that can shoot anywhere from 30 feet in. You have to play nearly perfect defense against teams like that and sometimes, that is still not enough. Also, Northeastern Oklahoma was not in any kind of foul trouble; they only had two team fouls by the five minute mark of the second half; that meant that they could afford to be very aggressive and gamble a lot more on defense. It was only a matter of time before their run came and Northeastern rattled off the next 13 points to cut it to 53-48.
Northwest's survival depended on whether or not they could play through it and they did as Monique hit from the baseline to break the run and make it 56-48. But then Northeastern Oklahoma started going to Taylor Lewis, a great clutch player, and she brought them back to within 59-57 by the final media timeout with a 30-footer from the top of the key. Northwest was playing their trapping zone all night against Northeastern Oklahoma, but one of the reasons the Riverhawks came back was because they were able to work the ball into the middle of the floor and get good looks from the high post or else draw the lower defenders forward and slip someone in behind the defense for easy layups. But then Northwest switched to a man to man for the last five minutes. This threw the Riverhawks out of their rhythm just long enough to give Northwest some badly needed cushion.
Northeast Oklahoma had two chances to tie, but were called for a pushoff away from the ball and then Tosha Tyler missed a runner right underneath the basket. Tyler tried to make up for the miss and gambled on defense, trying to steal the outlet. But she took herself right out of the play and Northwest had numbers down court for a wide open transition 3-pointer for Ashleigh Nelson to make it 62-57; that was a five point turnaround for the Bearcats. Lewis finally missed one and Annie Matthews kicked it out to Monique at the top of the key for another 3-pointer to make it 65-57.
But then Northeast Oklahoma solved the Northwest man as they used Taylor Lewis to slash to the rim and she hit an 18-foot runner with a hand in her face. Monique Stevens finally missed a 3-pointer and Lewis slashed to the rim again. Northwest helped perfectly on defense, but Lewis hit it anyway to make it 65-61 with 46.7 seconds left. Tember Schechinger hit two free throws to make it 67-61 with 43.2 seconds left, but then the Riverhawks got the ball to Sarah Green, a role player who usually distributes the ball to the rest of the team. But this time, Green pulled the trigger and banked home a 3-pointer to make it 67-64.
Northwest got the ball to one of their best free throw shooters in Meridee Scott, but she missed a one and one, giving Northeast Oklahoma a chance to tie at the end. But Northwest played perfect perimeter defense, forcing them out near the halfcourt line at one point. Finally, with time running out, Fontana Tate got the ball on the left baseline with two defenders on her tightly. She was off balance, but she somehow got off a great look even though her defenders were playing her perfectly. But the ball went in and out and Maggie Marnin was there for the defensive board and the Riverhawks could not get her fouled in time before time expired.
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