Tanya Meyer, standout player for the Northwest Women’s Basketball Team, has ties to Worth County. She is the daughter of Worth County grad Tracy Olney and is the granddaughter of Grant City resident Duane Olney. She is also a distant relation of Gary James; her grandmother and his grandmother were first cousins.
The Bearcats have had a rough season, only winning one game much of the year while playing several freshmen before finally winning two straight against Missouri Western and Lincoln. Against the Blue Tigers, the Bearcats won 61-60 and they needed every one of her 27 points and 13 boards.
This year, she is averaging 15.1 points per game and 9.1 rebounds while making 82.5% of her free throws. Last year, she made the All-MIAA Second Team along with the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and led the MIAA with 19.6 points per game and had 9. Boards per game. On February 2nd, 2017, she had 34 points and 11 rebounds against Lincoln. She started 27 of her 28 games as a sophomore and started in 11 games as a freshman, playing in all 28 games.
Meyer is from Sioux City (IA). She played for Sioux City West High School and averaged 20 points per game and 8 boards per game as a junior.
There are several other local players from the area on this year’s version of the Bearcats. Freshman Jaelyn Haggard, from Central High School in St. Joseph, scored 11 points and had 5 assists in Thursday’s win. Mallory McAndrews, from Benton High School in St. Joseph, had 8 points and hit two critical free throws with the game on the line late in the game. Another freshman, Mallory McConkey, from South Nodaway, played 8 minutes. She and twin sister Meghan McConkey were standouts for the Longhorns.
The game took on the kind of desperation one might expect from two teams desperate for wins. Northwest was seemingly in control at 56-47 in the fourth quarter when Lincoln started collecting steals off their press, two McAndrews threes were in and out, and the Blue Tigers moved ahead 58-56 before Meyers’ free throws tied it up with 3:18 left.
Northwest got a stop on defense, but Lincoln got another steal off their press. They had two chances to take the lead, but missed two shots at close range and Kaylani Maiava’s free throw put Northwest up 59-58 with 1:55 left. Maiaya later got a block on defense after Northwest had dribbled into a trap and later got a tip that resulted in a player control foul on Lincoln during the ensuing ball scramble with 12 seconds left after Northwest had turned it over on a backcourt violation.
Finally, McAndrews hit two free throws with 10 seconds left to make it 61-58 and Northwest blanketed the perimeter, forcing Lincoln to make a two-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. Northwest inbounded it and took timeout, advancing it to the coach’s box on their end, which is possible in women’s play after a made basket or free throw by the other team. With 1.7 seconds left and Lincoln out of timeouts, Northwest was able to inbound and hold it to run out the clock. It had been such a long season, it took the players a few seconds to realize they had just won a game.
The men’s game was much easier as the Bearcats won 76-43 over Lincoln. They had every reason to expect a close game, as the Blue Tigers had played Northwest tough both times last year and had a player go off on Northwest for 50 points in one. But Northwest, who had a mid-season slump and dropped two games, have returned to form in the last few games. The Blue Tigers showed that they were one of the most explosive and well-balanced teams of the MIAA, having scored over 130 points in one win this year. But they were not able to do anything against the Bearcats Thursday night.
The Bearcats are the defending National Champions and are ranked sixth this year. Justin Pitts scored 20 points, 18 in the first half. Chris-Ebou Ndow had 18 and Ryan Hawkins had 13. The Blue Tigers mixed man to man, zone, and box and one defenses to try to slow Pitts down, but he knocked down an NBA 3-pointer with 4:01 left to fuel a 12-2 run to close out the first half to put Northwest up 45-27. Pitts hit Hawkins for a guarded three, then hit Ndow backdoor and then took on four to get to the line over the protests of the Lincoln coach. Ndow’s drive cut the run.
Pitts came out for a break with 10:36 left and Northwest up 58-36 and it turned out he didn’t need to come back in as his teammates finished the job. Ndow got the hot hand, getting a tipin, a drive, and a steal capped by a monster dunk. Coach Ben McCollum has preached to his team this year about the need to stay hungry, and the hunger was there even late – on one play, Ryan Welty saved one from going out of bounds to Ndow, who promptly drained a three from the top of the key.
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