Bearcats open season with rout of Lincoln
By ANTHONY CRANE
The Forum
Northwest junior Sadie Maas handles the ball Monday in Bearcat Arena.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Northwest Missouri State got its 2026-27 season off to a strong start Monday night at Bearcat Arena in a 67-42 win over the Lincoln Blue Tigers behind a strong performance behind one of the MIAA’s top defensive teams.
“It’s definitely exciting to get the win at home and I think we’ll use it to propel us into the next couple of games,” Bearcat forward Sadie Maas said. “I feel like we played every single possession with an intensity that we didn’t necessarily have in our last exhibition game.”
After not playing during the preseason, the Bearcats saw the return of Andrea Lopreato. The senior made her impact early with a layup to give Northwest an early 4-1 lead.
Northwest set the tone early, turning a 4-1 lead into a 12-1 advantage with a 10-0 run. Bailey Birmingham scored seven points during the stretch as the Bearcats forced seven turnovers and held Lincoln to 1-of-11 shooting in the first quarter.
“Just playing through everyone and not trying to force anything,” Birmingham said. “We play so well together and so I think just letting the game come to us is the biggest thing.”
Birmingham led Northwest with 16 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Northwest pushed its first quarter point total to 20 while holding the Tigers to just five points.
The Bearcats pushed the lead to 25-8 early in the second quarter with a 3-pointer from Kirsten Hauck. Northwest went 3-of-16 from three-point in the game, an area coach Austin Meyer hopes they can improve on as the season progresses.
“A game like this, we didn’t shoot it very well,” Meyer said. “We were 3-of-16 from three, but we got to be a team that you play with energy, you get back in transition on defense, you guard the ball, and you’re going to be in a lot of games no matter what you do offensively.”
Northwest allowed a few more points in the second quarter than they did in the first, but carried a 23-point lead into halftime at 37-14. The Bearcats then added to that at the start of the second half with baskets from Mass and Lopreato in the opening minute.
A Boston Wand basket gave Northwest its biggest lead of the game at 50-20. Northwest forced three more turnovers in the quarter and 20 total Monday night.
“After that Doane game, we wanted to be aggressive defensively,” Meyer said. “But you can’t be over-aggressive where you’re gambling. I thought we did a great job of staying in our gaps, guarding the ball, and you naturally create turnovers that way — and I thought we did a really good job.”
Lincoln gave Northwest a fight in the second half, doubling their output of the first half with 28 points. Behind Birmingham for second in scoring was Mass, finishing with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Hauck finished third on the team with eight points. Wand finished with a team-leading nine rebounds.
“We’re obviously a work in progress,” Meyer said. “The ball got sticky a lot. We got to make sure we’re moving the ball, getting in and out of screens and in the second half we did way too much of iso ball. We’ve got to get back to moving it around and going inside.”
The Bearcats will travel north this weekend to Marshall, Minn. On Friday, Northwest will face Southwest Minnesota State. The Mustangs are coming off of an 87-42 win in their season opener with Nicole Maenke leading the team with 17 points.
Northwest will then play St. Cloud State on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats won’t play again until Nov. 20 at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph.
“I think we’re pretty satisfied right now,” Birmingham said. “But we don’t want to stay here, definitely have a lot to work on.”
