By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western (18-3, 12-3 MIAA) ended its women's game Saturday on an 11-1 run, turning a close game into a decently comfortable 68-52 win over Northwest Missouri State at the MWSU Fieldhouse Saturday.
The No. 22 Griffons grabbed their sixth consecutive victory and avenged a 49-46 loss to the Bearcats in Maryville from earlier this season in December.
Northwest (14-7, 9-6 MIAA) had the upper hand early, getting off to a 5-0 start and leading 15-13 at the end of the first quarter.
The Griffons grabbed their first lead at the 8:14 mark of the second quarter off of a Corbyn Cunningham layup, and never trailed after that. Missouri Western ended the second on a 9-2 run to lead it 34-24 at the break.
The Bearcats trailed 50-40 entering the fourth, and got to within 52-48 with 7:23 to go, but were outscored 16-4 the rest of the way. In fact, Northwest had only one made field goal in the final 7:23 and got outscored 11-1 in the closing 5:08.
Missouri Western switched to a zone defense to prevent Northwest from backing down to the rim, and forced the Bearcats into contested jump shots. Northwest shot just 3-of-11 from the field in the fourth quarter.
"We went to a zone," Missouri Western coach Candi Whitaker explained afterward. "(Northwest) had shooters on the floor, it was a gamble, but man we brought the energy. We played unbelievable in our zone, our guards were flying around, we did a fantastic job. Turned them over, rebounded out of it and put us in transition."
Cunningham finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds - her third double-double of the season and fifth time scoring 20 or more this season.
"Corbyn was amazing," Whitaker continued, "and I can't say enough about her. This is the Corbyn we know and this is the Corbyn we need. And it was the difference."
"I think we came with good energy," Cunningham said. "Great energy actually. We picked ourselves up from our start and had just a good collective win."
Connie Clarke had 12 points and 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double this season. Brionna Budgets scored nine points to go with four steals. Mychaell Gray had eight points, while Jordan Cunningham had seven.
The win now puts Missouri Western into second place in the MIAA standings - one game behind first place Fort Hays State (19-2, 13-2 MIAA).
"We sleep a lot better at night when we win," Whitaker said. "Excited that we continue to give ourselves a chance. Our kids know how good this league is. They actually follow it much closer than I do."
The Griffon women will next play in Joplin on Thursday against Missouri Southern (15-5, 12-3 MIAA). The Lions have won eight straight, including a 66-61 win over Central Missouri Saturday. Tip-off in Thursday's game is set for 5:30 p.m.
MWSU men hang tough for awhile, Northwest reels off late run
Missouri Western went blow-for-blow with No. 4 Northwest for awhile Saturday in the men's game, trailing by just eight with 6:31 to go, but the Bearcats (21-2, 14-1 MIAA) reeled off a 14-0 run in less than three minutes and pulled away late for an 84-53 win Saturday.
The Griffons led for 2:20 in the first half and only trailed 35-32 at halftime. Northwest started the second half on a 10-3 run, but Missouri Western (9-12, 5-8 MIAA) weathered the storm and stayed within single digits for awhile longer before Northwest went on their run.
The Bearcats shot an impressive 21-of-30 in the second half and turned the ball over only eight times all game. Northwest also outscored Western 46-28 in the paint.
"We did such a good job guarding the perimeter, and they hurt us in the paint," Missouri Western coach Will Martin said, after the Griffons held Northwest to just three of their first 15 shots from three to start the game. "They did a good job of taking advantage of just how heavy we were trying to guard the perimeter."
Western was led by JaRon Thames, who dumped in a career-high and game-high 27 points on a remarkable 10-of-12 shooting effort. Q Mays scored 15 points - all in the second half. Taye Fields came off the bench for 11 points and seven rebounds.
Wes Dreamer led four Bearcats in double figures with 23 points. Trevor Hudgins had 21, while Diego Bernard and Luke Waters each had 11. Bernard finished with a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds as well.
The win is Northwest's fifth straight overall and their 20th straight against the Griffons.
Missouri Western, who's 1-8 in their last nine games, begin a busy stretch of nine games in 20 days on Tuesday, when they travel to Edmond to face No. 16 Central Oklahoma (19-3, 14-2 MIAA) in a makeup game. Tip-off is set for 3:30.
"It's going to be a grind and it's going to be a gauntlet," Martin said of the upcoming schedule. "It starts with UCO who I think is playing as good as anybody in the league. So, that'll be a great test for us."
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