By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
CLAREMORE, OK - The Missouri Western women's basketball team overcame a somewhat rocky start in the first half and played a fluid second half, taking down Rogers State 68-53 on Saturday at the Claremore Expo Center.
The Griffons (22-5, 16-3 MIAA) got down 9-2 to start the game, but responded by going up 25-14 with 7:05 left in the second quarter.
Rogers State (4-20, 2-16 MIAA) battled back, ending the second half on a 6-0 run and the Hillcats only trailed 30-26 at the break.
"The first half, we just made terrible decisions," Missouri Western coach Candi Whitaker said frankly. "We were forcing it to the diver who wasn't open. We were just out of sync and out of rhythm."
Missouri Western was electric out of the gate in the second half, starting the third quarter on a 18-4 run to go up 50-32 with three minutes left in the third.
The lead grew to 60-39 with 8:03 remaining. Rogers closed a bit late, getting back to within 14, but the Griffons made three of their last four shots from the field to insure victory.
"I thought we played much better in the second half," Whitaker said. "I thought we responded, picked it up. I thought we had more people be present, make plays defensively that led to baskets for us to kind of pull away."
Junior Brionna Budgets led Missouri Western with 23 points on a 4-of-10 effort from three. She also had a career-high five steals. Junior Connie Clarke finished with 15 points, all in the second half, on 7-of-9 shooting. She also had six rebounds.
Sophomore Abby Bala came off the bench for 12 points and a career-best five assists. Sophomore Alyssa Bonilla had seven points and seven assists off the bench as well.
Missouri Western was outstanding on defense throughout, scoring 27 points off of 19 Rogers State turnovers. The Griffons nabbed 14 steals and scored 28 fast break points. The Hillcats were held to just 30.2 percent shooting on the day.
Missouri Western has now won four straight games and 15 of their last 16. The Griffons will play their final three regular season games at home to round out the month of February.
"I've just really loved how our schedule kind of unraveled," Whitaker said. "It was hard in the front end and we were on the road a bit more, but to end at home in February is really nice. The bye week is coming for us at a great time. I think we need it."
Missouri Western men get hot early, crumple late against Rogers State
Missouri Western was lights out from the floor in the first half, shooting north of 60 percent from the field, and from three, to build a 39-32 halftime lead.
Rogers State, however, started the second half on a 7-0 run, and took their first lead of the second half at 59-57 with 4:58 to play. The Hillcats (13-11, 9-9 MIAA) never trailed again, and ended strong in a 71-61 win over the Griffons in Claremore Saturday.
Rogers State, who's now won the last three meetings against Missouri Western, ended the game on a 19-4 run over the final 7:42.
"In that second half, I feel like we did a really poor job guarding," Missouri Western coach Will Martin said. "One-on-one matchups, gap defense, team defense and they made us pay. You can't allow a team, especially at their crib, to go on a 19-4 run to end the game."
Missouri Western (11-13, 7-11 MIAA) shot 65 percent from the field in the first half, including 7-of-11 from three, to get out in front early. The Griffons held a lead for more than 27 minutes of Saturday's game.
Missouri Western, however, was unable to maintain that early momentum, shooting just 28.6 percent from the field in the second half. Rogers State, meanwhile, shot 58.3 percent over the final 20 minutes.
Chris Whitaker led the Hillcats with 20 points. Joey Soracco had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Rogers State was also a solid 14-of-18 at the free throw line.
Julius Dixon led three Griffons in double figures with 13 points. Junior Reese Glover came off the bench to score 12 points, including three made triples. Sophomore Taye Fields had 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Griffons saw a three-game winning streak halted, but with Northeastern State losing to No. 4 Northwest Missouri State Saturday, Missouri Western is still in 10th place in the MIAA standings. The top 10 teams in the 14-school league make it to the conference tournament in Kansas City.
Missouri Western will now play out the rest of their regular season with four straight games at home.
"They know the weight of each game," Martin said of his team. "We're excited to watch the film and find ways to get better."
Both the Griffon men and women host rival Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, February 18. The women tip at 1:30, and the men follow at 3:30. Both games are on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3, 680kfeq.com).
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