By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western's depth and strength of schedule were two big reasons why they got into the NCAA tournament in the first place.
They're also two big reasons why the No. 7 seed Griffons (22-9) dominated the No. 2 seed and Great American Conference champion Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday, 111-77, in the first round of the NCAA Central Region tournament at Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays, Kansas Friday.
The Griffons made 15 threes, shot nearly 65 percent on the day, managed 53 bench points and had six players finish in double figures.
"That was fun," Missouri Western assistant coach Emily Wacker said. "We shot it fantastic. Obviously, picked a good day to come out here and shoot it well and from a lot of different people across the board. Everyone contributed and played meaningful minutes. So, really happy for our team."
Missouri Western ended the first quarter on a 6-0 run to go up 20-12 entering the second. That was just the beginning.
The Griffons, who won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2001 Friday, shot a remarkable 12-of-16 in the second quarter and outscored the Bulldogs 30-16 over the final 10 minutes of the first half to go up 50-28 at the break.
It just continued for Missouri Western, as they shot a blistering 14-of-17 from the field in the third quarter, leading 86-56 by the start of the fourth.
Three more triples in the final quarter put the Griffons over the century mark. In fact, the 111 points scored are the most they've ever put up against a Division II opponent in program history, breaking the previous record of 98 points scored against William Jewell earlier this season in December.
All told, Western shot 64.7 percent from the field (44-68), including 15-of-24 from beyond the arc. Despite 25 turnovers, the Griffons doled out a single-game school record 33 assists.
"Lotta made shots and a lot of made threes," Wacker said. "Offense looks good when that's happening."
Brionna Budgets led the charge with 19 points on a career-high five made three-pointers. Jaelyn Haggard scored 15 on a season-high tying five made threes.
Connie Clarke dropped 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. Mychaell Gray scored a season-high 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting, while Corbyn Cunningham dropped 12 and Mary Fultz 11.
In all, the Griffons had 53 bench points compared to SWOSU's seven. MWSU also outrebounded the Bulldogs 49-28, held them to just nine assists and held SWOSU to 37.3 percent shooting on the day, including just 3-of-17 from beyond the arc.
Southwestern Oklahoma State averaged nine made three-pointers per game on an average 27 attempts per contest coming in.
Missouri Western now gets set to face No. 6 seed and MIAA foe Nebraska-Kearney (24-7) in the Central Region semifinals on Saturday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3) with pregame starting at 4:30.
The Lopers, who beat the Griffons 60-48 in St. Joseph in January and again 75-64 in Kearney in February, beat No. 3 seed Minnesota-Duluth in their first-round game Friday, 77-70.
"We're not satisfied with just winning this game," Wacker said. "We want to keep going and make a run to the Elite Eight here. So, we'll go back to the hotel and prep and take care of our bodies and play our tails off."
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