Western and Northwest women lose in MIAA semifinals; Northwest men advance to MIAA Championship

Mar. 9—It was semifinals' play on Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri, for the MIAA Basketball Tournament, with eight teams fighting to land a spot in the championship game on Sunday afternoon.

The first team to take the floor was the overall one seed on the women's side, the Missouri Western Griffons. For the past 12 years, the one seed has only won the MIAA Tournament Championship twice, and there won't be a third time as fifth-seeded Pittsburg State cruised past Western with a 75-55 victory.

The difference was Western's start, as they began the game with a cold hand. In the first quarter alone, the Griffons were 5-of-16 shooting. When viewing the Gorillas, they shot 15-of-29 in the first half.

Physicality played in Pittsburg State's favor, as they dominated the boards, out rebounding Western 47-31, including 40-20 on the defensive boards. The largest deficit for Western was 25 points.

Western's Johnni Gonzalez led the team with 12 points. Connie Clarke and Tiani Ellison had nine points each.

Missouri Western is projected as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Central Region tournament in the latest regional rankings.

"Not a great day for the Griffs. We struggled, obviously, to score the basketball and play with the energy and level of toughness on the defensive end," Western head coach Candi Whitaker said. "We'll have to look in the mirror a little bit before we get into the national tournament, which can be a great thing if we can get some things fixed. Rest is always good this time of year, and again, we're just we're excited about what's ahead of us."

The second contest on Saturday was the two-seeded Northwest Missouri State Bearcats and the three-seeded Fort Hays State Tigers. It would be another gut-wrenching loss for the top two seeds, as Northwest drops a tight 56-49 contest to Fort Hays State.

Unlike Western, the Bearcats jumped out on a 6-0 run, which would continue to roll in their favor as they led 20-17 early in the second quarter. The Tigers would find their own run in them, going on a small 5-0 run to take a 24-22 halftime lead.

The fourth would be when Northwest made their best attempt. Entering the quarter down 41-35, Northwest cut the game to three after a Lindsey Kelderman floater, but the Tigers would use good free-throw shooting down the stretch to pull away.

Kelderman led the Bearcats with 13 points while pulling down six boards. Molly Hartnett added 12 points and five rebounds. Kelsey Fields was close to a double double with eight points and 12 rebounds.

"Just proud of our team. You know, we got down 11, made a run back then we got down eight or nine, made another run, just couldn't quite get over the hump," Northwest head coach Austin Meyer said. "I think we continue to be battle tested with the teams we played in the region, the wins we've had against regional teams. We didn't play great today, but we still feel like our program is playing its best right now at this point in the season."

The first contest on the men's side began with overall one seed Northwest Missouri State taking on fourth-seeded Washburn. Despite a slow start for the Bearcats, they would use a strong second half to take a 76-59 win in semifinal play.

Starting off 1-for-13 wasn't ideal for Northwest, as they quickly fell 17-7 and the momentum quickly shifted in the Ichabods favor. After a talk in the huddle, Northwest came out showing their true colors, going on a 14-3 run to take a 21-20 lead.

Going into the half up 31-29, Northwest felt more comfortable, but the locker room talk must have sparked an untapped energy surge from the Bearcats. A couple steals began the second half from Bennett Stirtz, and the rest was history.

Northwest jumped out to a 53-34 lead in just under eight minutes of second half play. The defense was in the face of the Ichabods, as Northwest was able to get Washburn to turn the ball over to translate to 14 points.

Mitch Mascari scored 19 points and was a perfect 10-of-10 at the free throw line. Daniel Abreu recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Wes Dreamer tallied 13 points and seven rebounds.

Northwest will play Pittsburg State in the 2024 MIAA title game on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.