By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western women's basketball, once again, leaned on its defense and the Griffons kept their win streak going with a 58-49 victory over Northeastern State on Thursday at the MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph.
The Riverhawks (12-11, 8-9 MIAA) scored the first four points of the game, but No. 24 Missouri Western led 5-4 at the first media break and never trailed after.
The Griffons (20-4, 15-3 MIAA) led 22-19 at halftime, but started the third quarter on a 14-0 run to lead 36-19 midway through the period.
Northeastern State limited the damage, and trailed by only seven points at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Griffons scored 20 points over the final 10 minutes to keep the Riverhawks at bay.
Northeastern, who beat the Griffons 74-58 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma back on January 6, are a much improved team, having already doubled their win total from last season.
Connie Clarke led three Griffons in double figures with 12 points to go with six rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
Brionna Budgets and Tiani Ellison each had 10 points. All of Budgets' points came in the second half. Ellison tied a team-high with six rebounds.
Missouri Western got 29 points from their bench, and held the Riverhawks to just 31.3% shooting (15-of-48). Northeastern made 14-of-17 at the foul line.
The Griffons scored 23 points off of 22 Northeastern turnovers. Missouri Western was limited to 38.1% shooting (24-of-63) and just 3-of-19 from three.
Still, Missouri Western pushes their win streak to 10 games, the Griffons remain in first place in the MIAA standings and have now won 15 of their last 16.
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Missouri Western was without star player and lead rebounder Taye Fields for most of Thursday's game against Northeastern State.
Fields got injured midway through the first half and played only 13 minutes with an apparent hand/wrist injury. He was on the floor for about two minutes of the second half.
That, paired with foul trouble for Missouri Western starters Kiani Saxon and Julius Dixon, made things difficult for the Griffons.
Missouri Western (14-9, 9-9) battled, got 19 bench points in a game with 13 ties and 11 lead changes, but the Riverhawks scored the winning basket with 1.6 seconds left, and Northeastern beat the Griffons, 62-61, Thursday night.
Caison Hartloff got the ball with only six seconds left, got down the lane on a dribble, put up a shot and got the friendly roll to give Northeastern State (9-14, 4-13 MIAA) the win.
Hartloff finished with 12 points in the game.
JaRon Thames led the Griffons on a valiant effort with 23 points and 12 rebounds - both game-highs. The 12 boards were a career-high.
Ethan Blackmon led four Riverhawks in double figures with 14 points off the bench. Northeastern was efficient all night, shooting 52.1% (25-of-48) from the field. Missouri Western wasn't bad, shooting 45.3% (25-of-53).
Both teams committed 15 turnovers. The Riverhawks won the points off turnovers battle, 19-11.
Missouri Western has now dropped six of their last seven games. Northeastern State has played some better ball lately, scoring wins over Missouri Southern, Washburn and now Western - all since January 24.
Both Griffon teams play their final home game of the regular season Saturday, hosting Rogers State. The women tip at 1:30, the men at 3:30. Both games are on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3, 680kfeq.com, KFEQ app). Coverage starts at 1 p.m.
Saturday's games will also be Senior Day for the Griffons.
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You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.