By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Saturday's women's basketball game between No. 13 Missouri Western and Northwest Missouri State is big for a number of reasons.
The Griffons (9-0, 4-0 MIAA) are off to their best start in six years and sit in first place in the MIAA. The Bearcats have already surpassed their win total from a season ago, and have won eight of their first 10 games for the first time since 2010-11.
It's also the first meeting between Northwest and Western since former Bearcat and St. Joseph native Jaelyn Haggard announced her decision to use her fifth year of eligibility to play for the Griffons after four storied seasons in Maryville.
"It's really exciting," Haggard said. "I think it's going to be a surreal moment to step back on that floor, considering what the last four years have been like for me there, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun."
Haggard played in 105 games during her four-year career at Northwest, including 81 starts. She scored 1185 points, and became the Bearcats' all-time leader in three-point field goals made with 256.
The MIAA Freshman of the Year in 2018, Haggard is also third all-time at Northwest in free throw percentage at 82.8 percent.
After the 2020-21 season ended, Haggard got accepted into Missouri Western's highly competitive Physical Therapist Assistant Program, which only takes about 20-30 applicants.
"I can't wait to get out into the healthcare field and serve people and take care of people," she said. "Right now, it's a grinding process, but it's fun."
Haggard joined the fold with Missouri Western's team right away, scrimmaging with the Griffons during the offseason and working practices in between her busy class schedule. But so far, so good.
Haggard has made 20 three-pointers already this season, while averaging 9.7 points per game and shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc, helping the Griffons to one of their best starts in recent memory.
"This is one of my better decisions I've made in my course of just playing basketball and being here with family," Haggard said. "But, school has been really fun and I love the team to death and the coaches have been great. So, all-in-all, it's been a really awesome experience."
Haggard left St. Joseph Central as one of the most prolific players in school history, scoring 1319 career points to rank second all-time. Haggard's father, Darren, played baseball at Missouri Western.
Missouri Western coach Candi Whitaker learned of Haggard's career and achievements when she first took the Griffon job in 2019.
Fast forward a couple of years, and Whitaker is certainly glad to have Haggard be a part of what's been a so far historic season for Missouri Western.
"But I'm just so glad we have her," Whitaker said. "That was the first thing when I got here, I was like, 'Why don't we have her?!' I'm really excited Jaelyn is with us this one year. She's a ton of fun to coach and watch play and she's done nothing but make us better."
Missouri Western faces Northwest Missouri State on Saturday at Bearcat Arena in Maryville. The women tip off at 1:30, the men to follow at 3:30. Both games will be carried live on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3, 680kfeq.com and the KFEQ app. Pregame starts at 1 p.m.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.