The Northwest Missouri State women's basketball team picked up its first conference win of the season as they defeated the Northeastern State RiverHawks 67-55.
 
Northwest improves to 6-6 overall and 1-5 in MIAA action.
 
The Bearcats and RiverHawks were knotted up at 10 apiece after first quarter action. Molly Hartnett scored eight of Northwest's 10 points in the quarter and Kelsey Fields added four rebounds.
 
With 7:48 to go in the first half, Ella Moody finished a layup to give the Bearcats their largest lead of the game so far at 17-12. NSU battled back to retake the lead at 20-19 with just over 3 minutes left in the second quarter. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half, but the RiverHawks knocked down a last second shot to take a 25-24 lead into halftime.
 
Both teams shot better than 50 percent in the second quarter. Northwest held the RiverHawks to zero three-point attempts in the quarter while also forcing NSU into five turnovers.
 
Molly Hartnett scored 18 first-half points for the Bearcats on 7-of-10 shooting and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Kelsey Fields grabbed eight rebounds in the half, three of which came on the offense end. Ella Moody dished out three assists and Jayna Green tallied two blocks.
 
Kelsey Fields tallied her 10^th rebound of the game with 6:57 to go in the third quarter. At the 2:40 mark in the third quarter, Evelyn Vazquez stole the ball and went the length of the court as she made a layup and drew the foul. Vazquez missed the free throw, but Kelsey Fields was there for the offensive rebound. Fields went back up and made the layup while drawing another RiverHawk foul. She converted the three-point play to give Northwest its largest lead so far at 39-31.
 
At the end of the third quarter, Northwest led NSU 43-37. The Bearcats outscored NSU 19-12 in the quarter on 6-of-15 shooting from the field.
 
Evelyn Vazquez scored seven points in just over five minutes of action in the fourth quarter to give her 11 points at the media timeout as the Bearcats led 54-44.
 
Northwest defeated Northeastern State 67-55 as the Bearcats recorded their first conference win of the season. The Bearcats shot 44.6 percent from the field during the game and forced 15 NSU turnovers. Northwest had 14 points off of the turnovers. Northwest outrebounded the RiverHawks 34 to 25 with 15 of the rebounds being offensive.
 
Kelsey Fields had 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as she tallied her third double-double of the season. Fields also had a team-high three steals. Molly Hartnett finished with a season-high 24 points to go along with two assists, two steals, and one block. Evelyn Vazquez finished with 11 points, two rebounds, two steals, and one assist. Ella Moody added nine points and a team-high four assists. Jayna Green had three blocks to bring her within two of tying the all-time career blocks record at Northwest. Green has 120 career blocked shots.
 
Northwest will host Rogers State Monday, January 2, at 5:30 p.m. in Bearcat Arena.