By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Missouri Western women's basketball team built a 16-point lead in the second half and held on for a 68-58 win at Northeastern State on Thursday at the NSU Event Center in Tahlequah.
The Griffons (21-5, 15-3 MIAA) never trailed in Thursday's game, but the Riverhawks (6-15, 3-14 MIAA) hung around throughout, trailing only 35-30 at halftime.
Missouri Western started the second half with an 18-7 run to go up 53-37 with 6:13 left in the third quarter. Northeastern State limited the damage, though, and trailed 58-46 entering the fourth.
The Riverhawks got to within nine at 64-55 with 3:49 to go, but they never got closer. The Griffons got key stops late, and scored 18 points off of 15 Northeastern State turnovers.
"We strung together enough to win the game," Missouri Western coach Candi Whitaker said. "That's a little bit of the story this time of year."
Junior Brionna Budgets led Missouri Western in scoring with 14 points. She also had six rebounds. Junior Johnni Gonzalez had 13, while junior Connie Clarke had 10.
Clarke and Budgets only played nine minutes each in the first half after they each picked up two early fouls. That opened the door for six other Griffons to get in the scoring column, and Missouri Western posted 17 total bench points.
"That's what teams have to do," Whitaker added. "That's why you have more than five players. We've relied so heavily on Bri and Connie all year, and they didn't have as great of performances as they typically do, and that happens. They're human, but your teammates have to pick it up, and I thought we did that, especially in the first half."
The Missouri Western women have now won 14 of their last 15 games, and they've now won 10 of the last 11 meetings against Northeastern State.
Missouri Western men shut down Northeastern State defensively
The Missouri Western men's basketball team held Northeastern State to just 31.9 percent shooting, and the Griffons pulled away down the stretch in a 54-41 win at the NSU Event Center Thursday.
It marks the lowest scoring output by a Missouri Western opponent all season.
"The focus all week was defense," Missouri Western coach Will Martin said. "So, for us to be able to come out and do that on the road, I'm so proud of our guys for buying into that. It's hard when you have a game plan where you're trying to slow the game down to keep a very prolific offense from being efficient."
The Griffons (10-12, 7-10 MIAA) grabbed an early lead with a 7-0 run in the opening minutes, and they never trailed after. Missouri Western made 6-of-13 three-point attempts in the first half, and led the Riverhawks 28-22 at the break.
The Griffons pushed that lead to 38-28 with 14:54 remaining, and it was never really close after that. The lead for Missouri Western ballooned to 52-34 with 2:04 to play.
Sophomore Julius Dixon led Missouri Western offensively with 13 points. Sophomore Reed Kemp had 11 on 3-of-4 shooting from three. Junior Will Eames had seven points and a team-best 10 rebounds.
Missouri Western was facing a Northeastern State team that had only eight players available. The Riverhawks were without lead scorer Christian Cook, and starting guard Rashad Perkins was held to just three points in 15 minutes off the bench.
The Riverhawks (10-11, 7-10 MIAA) have now lost four straight games and six of their last seven.
Missouri Western, meanwhile, has now won three straight games as they continue to help their case for an MIAA tournament berth.
"We don't change our approach, we don't change our process," Martin said. "But, as you get down the stretch of the season, the weight of the ball becomes a little heavier, because there's ramifications. We're going to have be tough, be gritty, be mature and find a way to win."
Both Missouri Western teams head to Claremore, Oklahoma Saturday to face Rogers State. The women play at 1:30, and the men follow at 3:30. Both games are on KFEQ (680, 95.3, 680kfeq.com).
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.