By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western women's basketball set the tone from the beginning, going up 28-4 by the end of the first quarter and rolling to a 108-45 win over Newman on Thursday night at the MWSU Fieldhouse in St. Joseph.
The Griffons' onslaught continued, as Missouri Western was up 58-17 by halftime.
Missouri Western (12-4, 7-3 MIAA) shot 54.9% from the field, including an excellent 14-of-26 from three. Brionna Budgets and Kassandra Caron led the Griffons with 16 points each.
Jayme Jackson scored 14, while Connie Clarke and Tiani Ellison chipped in 10. Alyssa Bonilla, who got the start, scored six points to go with seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Missouri Western dominated every major statistical category, outrebounding Newman (2-15, 1-10 MIAA) 54-23. The Griffons had 26 assists, scored 53 bench points and cashed in 35 points off of 22 Newman turnovers.
Newman was held to 30.2 percent shooting and suffered their largest margin of defeat so far this season.
The Missouri Western women, meanwhile, set a new record for most points ever scored against an MIAA opponent.
The Griffons have now won seven of their last eight games and sit just one game out of first place in the MIAA standings.
Candi Whitaker interview
Brionna Budgets interview
Full audio broadcast
Griffon men light it up from three, thrash Newman Thursday
No. 25 Missouri Western built a 22-point lead by halftime and shot north of 60 percent from long range in a 97-58 win over Newman (6-10, 3-8 MIAA) at the MWSU Fieldhouse on Thursday.
A 16-3 run in the first half put Missouri Western (13-3, 7-3 MIAA) ahead 22-8 with 9:57 left before halftime.
The Griffons never looked back after that, outscoring Newman 53-36 over the final 20 minutes.
Missouri Western shot 60 percent (36-of-60) from the field Thursday, including a blistering 14-of-23 from three. Julius Dixon led four Griffons in double figures with 22 points. He alone was 6-of-8 from three.
JaRon Thames scored 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Zion Swader was nearly flawless, scoring 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He had seven rebounds, five assists, four steals and no turnovers.
Reese Glover came off the bench to score 11 points to go with four steals.
The Griffons had 27 assists to just 12 turnovers, as Missouri Western has now won five straight games - the longest active winning streak in the MIAA.
Missouri Western scored 31 points off of 17 Newman turnovers, helping the Griffons put up a season-high scoring effort.
The Missouri Western men are now tied for second place in the MIAA standings - in a three-way tie with Washburn and Fort Hays State.
Both Missouri Western teams are home to face Central Oklahoma on Saturday. The women's game tips off at 1:30 p.m., and the men's follows at 3:30. Both games are on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3, 680kfeq.com, KFEQ app).
The UCO women beat Northwest Missouri State Thursday, 71-57. The 24th -ranked Northwest men beat UCO, 71-56.
Will Martin, Julius Dixon interview
Full audio broadcast
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.