MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Northwest Missouri State women's basketball team (10-10, 3-7 MIAA) achieved back-to-back wins over Central Missouri for the first time since the 2010-11 season, fueled by a season-best 54.7% shooting performance from the field.
Molly Hartnett matched her season-high with 28 points while adding seven rebounds and four assists.
Caely Kesten set a new career-high for three-pointers in a single season with 55, hitting 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Kesten finished the game with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
With this victory, Northwest ended a nine-game home losing streak to UCM. The Bearcats' last home win against the Jennies was on Jan. 12, 2011. Additionally, today's win marked their largest home margin of victory over UCM since Feb. 2, 2004.
Central Missouri (12-9, 4-6 MIAA) struck first on its first possession, but after
Molly Hartnett suffered a basketball play injury, she'd end up scoring Northwest's opening four points. UCM led 8-4 at the media timeout. Northwest picked up its first lead of the game after
Emree Zars dished it out to
Caely Kesten in the corner on a fastbreak with 3:35 left in the opening quarter, leading 11-9. With the game knotted up at 15 with about 15 seconds to spare, head coach
Austin Meyer signaled an isolation to Kesten, resulting in a Kesten bucket to give the 'Cats a 17-15 advantage after one.
A 9-0 spark from the Jennies to open the second quarter was shut down by a Hartnett three-ball, cutting the Bearcats' deficit to four with seven to play. After the Hartnett triple, Northwest continued a 7-0 run before the media timeout, tied at 24. Hartnett drilled a step-back three with a few ticks remaining in the half, giving Northwest a slim 37-36 advantage at the break. Hartnett, a first-half force scored 16 of Northwest's 37 points on 5-of-8 shooting (2-of-2 3PT) and converting on all four free throws. Kesten was Northwest's second-most point scorer with seven.
Northwest forced a UCM timeout with a 6-0 spurt in just over three minutes to claim a 43-37 lead at the media timeout. Another Kesten three triggered a crucial 8-0 spurt to give the 'Cats a 51-43 lead with just over a minute to play. With 35 seconds left in the third,
Kelsey Fields drilled only her fourth career three-pointer to give Northwest a 54-46 lead with a quarter to go.
In only her second career start as a freshman,
Brooklyn Stanley buried her first three-point shot of the afternoon to lead by 14 with under eight minutes to play. Nothing but buckets and stops for Northwest down the stretch, as the Bearcats won back-to-back contests for the first time since the 2010-11 season, this time, 75-57 in Maryville.
As a team, Northwest only turned the ball over four times, tying its season low. The Bearcats out-rebounded the Jennies, 28-to-24, improving to 8-0 when doing so this season.
Up Next:
Northwest will travel down Highway 71 to St. Joseph for its only game of the week, facing Missouri Western on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 1:30 p.m.
