Northwest women drop 4th consecutive contest
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Junior guard Taylor Shull shoots a baseline jump shot during Northwest’s 71-54 loss to Nebraska-Kearney Thursday night. Shull finished as the Bearcats’ leading scorer with 10 points, all in the first half.
The Northwest women’s basketball team remained winless in conference play heading into Thursday’s home game with Nebraksa-Kearney, and eventually left Bearcat Arena without anything changing.
Against the MIAA’s worst scoring defense in the Lopers, which allows 74.9 points per contest, the Bearcats mustered 20 points below that average in a 71-54 loss.
“I finally felt like this group gave energy to have success,” head coach Michael Smith said. “I thought tonight was going to be the night, I really did. I was hoping for this, praying for this opportunity: team coming in, back in Bearcat Arena.”
After Nebraska-Kearney grabbed an 11-8 lead on a layup from Tori Payne in the first half, a layup from Northwest sophomore forward Shelby Mustain and a three-pointer from senior guard Ariel Easton gave the Bearcats a quick 5-0 run and a 13-11 advantage.
The two teams continued trading blows with five total lead changes in the first half.
Northwest was able to limit Loper forward Amarah Williams, the sixth-highest scorer in the MIAA, to just two points in the opening frame. However, she wasn’t kept off the boards, gathering six defensive rebounds to end Bearcat possessions. Williams finished with just four points and 11 rebounds on the night.
“We really put an emphasis on it in practice, where our posts need to be,” junior guard Tember Schechinger said. “They did a really good job of being in position … Our posts did a really good job of making her work for her four points.”
In the final few moments before the break the lead-exchanging carried on, but a three-pointer from Nebraska-Kearney’s Kelsey Fitzgerald with a little over one minute left gave the Lopers a 28-23 lead. Mustain cut the margin to three points with a short jumper with 50 seconds left, bringing the halftime tally to 28-25.
Junior guard Taylor Shull led Northwest with 10 points in the opening period, showing an aggressiveness to attack the basket, especially along the baseline.
“I was a lot more aggressive,” Shull said. “I felt like it was time I needed to show up. My team needs me, and that’s kind of my strength is getting into the lane and drawing defenders, kicking out, or possibly hitting some jump shots … I need to expect that out of myself some more.”
After the intermission, it was the Bearcats landing the first offensive strike: a 7-0 run out of the gates that gave them a 32-28 lead.
However, Nebraska-Kearney answered almost immediately, stringing together 16 consecutive points to nail down a commanding 47-34 advantage. Two of the final blows in the run came on three-pointers from McKenzie Brown and Taylor Neilson.
The Lopers buried four shots from beyond the arc in the second half, carrying them to their eighth victory of the season in 15 tries, while shooting 47.1 percent from deep for the game.
“Sometimes the ball falls through the hoop, and sometimes it doesn’t,” Smith said. “It’s unfortunate that the ball fell through the hoop for them eight times from the three-point line. I thought that was the difference.”
With less than four minutes to go, a three-pointer from Schechinger and a layup from Easton brought the Nebraska-Kearney advantage to 62-52 and within reasonable striking distance, but the Lopers finished off Northwest with six free throws in the final few minutes.
Easton, a staple in the Bearcat offense and ninth in the MIAA in scoring at 14.3 points per game, started on the bench before entering five minutes into the contest. Easton came down with an illness Monday morning before a game against Northeastern State.
“I’m just trying to find ways to get Ariel going,” Smith said. “We really miss her right now as far as her scoring ability … I think she’s kind of lost that love for the game. It’s unfortunate because whenever she’s on, she’s fun to watch.”
Brown and Fitzgerald finished with 19 points and 17 points, respectively, to lead the Lopers, while Shull and Schechinger’s 10 points apiece paced the Bearcats. Easton tallied nine points.
After the loss, its fourth in a row, Northwest (4-11, 0-6) will return to action at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 13 Washburn at Bearcat Arena.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Northwest junior guard Tember Schechinger tries to put up a shot over Nebraska-Kearney junior forward Brandy Jo Blackburn during the second half of Thursday’s 71-54 defeat, the Bearcats’ fourth loss in a row.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Bearcat freshman forward Tanya Meyer attempts to get her shot off with her left hand against Nebraska-Kearney Thursday night. Northwest lost its fourth straight game, this one by a 71-54 margin to the Lopers.
