By MATT PIKE
The Northwest Missouri State women are looking to build on a solid finish last season, bringing back a group of players familiar with the system and ready to keep improving.
The Bearcats finished last season 18-12, with an 11-8 MIAA record, their seasons ending in the quarterfinals of the MIAA tournament and come into 2026 losing just two players off last season's squad, both from their starting rotation in Central alum Ella Moody and forward Emree Zars.
Head Coach Austin Meyer says after starting last season with essentially a whole new team, this year's starting spot was at a different level.
"Just understanding the offense, our system, and what we want from a culture standpoint," Meyer tells reporters. "And so, it's been really nice, obviously we've got a lot of work to do to get where we want to be but having that starting spot has been great."
Losing players like Moody does leave leadership roles to fill, but Meyer is confident in players like Sadie Maas and Bailey Birmingham who can help fill that void. Meyer adds having players who know the system on the court is a big advantage as a coach as well.
"When it comes from your players it's that much more effective when they can kind of lead and they know what's going on," Meyer explains. "Last year we were tinkering with offense and what we were going to do, and so trying to figure that out, where we have a much better idea going into this season."
"We have a really clear, there's still positions to be fought for, but it's pretty clear right now who our top six or seven kids are so that helps in practice with continuity and being able to play those groups together and figure out lineups and that sort of thing."
Maas returns for her third season with Northwest. Despite making just five starts in her freshman season, Maas had 48 blocked shots, the fifth most in program history, over 30 games. Last season, she was named the MIAA's Defensive Player of the Year, improving that total to 73 blocks, the second most in program history, starting all 30 games. She also holds the school record for blocked shots in a single game, with 11 against Missouri Southern on February 12th.
Maas says the mindset of this team this year is simple, they want to bring a championship back to Maryville.
"That's obviously the north star goal, but with so many people coming back that's what our goal is going to be," Maas says.
One player that will continue to see a large role this season for the Bearcats is Bailey Birmingham. A freshman last season, Birmingham jumped straight into the starting lineup, starting 27 games, averaging just over 12 points.
After finishing fifth last season in the MIAA, while the hope is to be higher, Birmingham says having 11 returning players is an advantage to help pick up right where they left off from last season.
"Experience wise there's a bunch of us returning, I think we're really close knit as a team, I think that's a huge advantage when we have 11 of us returning and mixing in a couple freshman," Birmingham says. "And then on the floor, we got to pick up right where we left off, whereas a couple other teams are probably having to start over, so it's a really good feeling knowing our luck is going to be similar to where it was last year on the floor."
The Bearcat women were picked to finish fourth by MIAA coaches and sixth by media members. Northwest opens its season on October 27th with an exhibition matchup against Doane. Their first official matchup of the season will be November 9th hosting Lincoln.
Interviews
Head Coach Austin Meyer
Sadie Maas
Bailey Birmingham
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