The Northwest Missouri State women exceeded expectations when they clinched a winning season with a home win over Truman, went on the road to beat Southern in the first round of the MIAA tournament, and then gave Washburn all they could handle before losing 52-39. It took one of the best defensive teams in the country to stop Northwest's momentum; they were regularly holding teams under 50 points a game. Holding a team to 52 points in a night is usually enough to win at this level. But a suffocating Washburn defense that held Northwest to 26% shooting for the night did them in. But Northwest will return all five starters for Coach Mark Kellogg.
The Bearcats were a very streaky team this year, winning several in a row and then losing several in a row. They got off to a 9-3 start and met their initial goal right away, improving on last year's win total. Then, they lost seven out of eight during one stretch, falling under .500 and getting to a point where they were fighting for their playoff lives. But then they righted themselves and won four straight, including a home win over a ranked Truman squad to clinch a winning season and then followed that up with a road win over Southern, 77-72, in order to get to the second round. Half of the teams in the country do not get past their first round game, so the Bearcats had propelled themselves into the upper level.
But the one constant for the team was the fact that they were in all of their games this year. Their worst loss was a road loss to Pitt State, a game they were in until the last 10 minutes. They were able to do so because of a swarming defense that allowed 59 points a game, 5th in the conference out of 15 teams. They went from a run and shoot team to a passing game offense under new coach Mark Kellogg and the result was that they led the league in field goal percentage with 45% shooting from the field. Rebounding was identified as a big area of concern for Kellogg. The Bearcats were last in rebounding and it showed in the win-loss column. Out of Northwest's 13 losses, 8 of them were to MIAA teams that were in the top six in rebounding; they were 0-8 against those teams.
Kellogg's team-first approach paid off in the assist category. Northwest led the league with 16.1 assists per game, one more than anyone else in the league. Frequently, assists lead to higher field goal percentage. The Bearcats were second in steals, with 10.4 per game, behind only Lincoln.
Maggie Marnin led the league in field goal percentage with 59.2% shooting for the year. Monique Stevens led in assists with 5 assists per game and 135 total. Meridee Scott was 4th and Ashleigh Nelson 5th in 3-point percentage. Scott shot 41.8% while Nelson shot 40.9%.
Against Southern, Northwest showed signs of improvement in the rebounding area, killing the Lions on the boards 38-27 in the win while shooting 51% during the game. The Bearcats took an 18 point lead at 51-33 midway through the second half, lost it, but then came back to win by five on the road. Ashleigh Nelson led the scoring with 21 points while Annie Matthews followed with 14. Reserve post player Alexis Boeh played some inspired basketball down the stretch during Northwest's four game winning streak; she got 12 points against the Lions including some clutch scoring late in the game to put Northwest back in control after they had lost the lead. Tember Schechinger had 10.
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