Griffon, Bearcat women claim big weekend wins
Dec. 9—On Saturday, Northwest Missouri State and Missouri Western men's and women's teams were on the road for MIAA play, the fourth conference game for each team this season.
Missouri Western women kicked things off in Hays, Kansas, as the No.18-ranked and formerly undefeated Fort Hays State Tigers hosted the Griffons. Despite being down 31-24 at halftime, Western used a 20-12 run in the third quarter for the 61-58 victory.
The Griffons had four athletes score in double figures, led by Connie Clarke, who had 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Johnni Gonzalez added on with 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals, and Brionna Budgetts chipped in with 10 points.
For Western, they were productive from long-range, connecting on nine three on 21 attempts. The defense was on par too, holding Fort Hays to only 18.8% shooting from beyond the arc and 33.9% from the field. Griffons also forced 14 turnovers.
The No.22-ranked Missouri Western men took the court after the women, but they would struggle from the floor, especially in the first half, dropping their second game in a row, this time with a 73-49 loss.
As mentioned, it was a struggle out of the gate, as Western shot 21% from the floor in the first half. A bright spot for the men were their rebounding efforts, out-rebounding the Tigers 34-32 at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
JaRon Thames led the Griffons with 11 points. Taye Fields also added seven points and four assists and Josh Book helped out with six points.
Switching to the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, the women spoiled the Lopers 24 game home winning streak, and they snapped a nine-game losing streak to Nebraska-Kearney, with a 67-65 victory.
The first half was a back and forth battle, with Northwest jumping out to a 10-7 advantage, but at half they were trailing 34-30. At the half, Northwest's Caely Keston led with 11 points.
In the later half of the contest, the Bearcats fell by as much as 11 points, but Keston's new career-high 22 points helped propel the team to a victory, which was solidified with a Kelsey Fields 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining, and an ensuing Molly Hartnett steal.
The Bearcats shot 48.6% from the field and 40.9% from beyond the arc.
The No.17-ranked Northwest men were able to rebound after a loss to Fort Hays State, cruising to an 83-53 victory. Although they shot poorly against Fort Hays, the Bearcats knocked in 14-of-24 field goals in the first half in building a 38-22 lead at the break.
Northwest remained hot, making 10 of their first 12 field goal attempts to take a 62-32 advantage with 11:27 to play in the game, and never looked back.
Northwest had four players reach double-figure scoring led by Wes Dreamer's 20-point performance. Mitch Mascari tallied 17 points on five three-pointers and 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. Bearcats Byron Alexander and Bennett Stritz scored 11 points.
Northwest shot a season-best 59.6% from the field and limited UNK to 38.8% from the field.
Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.
