Bearcat women notch marquee win in electrifying performance
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Buck Scheel tells his players to remain calm as Arbrie Benson sets up a play in the waning seconds of the half in Saturday’s victory over Fort Hays. The Bearcats picked up their seventh win of the year, and second win within the MIAA.
Two days separated from its slowest start of the season, the Northwest Missouri State University women’s basketball team picked up its second MIAA victory and its most impressive win of the year in a 92-80 shootout against No. 23 Fort Hays State at home on Saturday. The Bearcats took it wire-to-wire after scoring their first bucket 22 seconds in.
Northwest improves to 7-10 overall, and Fort Hays drops to 14-4 and 5-4 in conference play.
Astonishingly, the Tigers took 17 more field goal attempts than the Bearcats and made the same number of shots with 31. Northwest got the best of Fort Hays at the free-throw line, converting 21 of 26 attempts. The Tigers made 12 of their 18 shots from the stripe.
Tanya Meyer was outstanding for the Bearcats, leading all players in both scoring and rebounds. The junior Sioux City, Iowa, native had 28 points and crashed for 11 of the Cats’ 36 boards. She got to the line often, missing just one of her 12 free throws.
Jasmin Howe finished with 25 points and six boards, and Arbrie Benson went 22 and seven with eight assists. The entire Fort Hays team had seven assists.
Three Bearcat players scoring 20-plus points in the same game has not happened since Shelly Martin, Gabby Curtis, and Kyla Roehrig did so in 2010.
“That’s what this team has to have,” Northwest coach Buck Scheel said after his team defeated a ranked opponent for the first time since 2013. “We’ve got some kids who are very capable of putting up those numbers, we just have to do it consistently. You have to come in with that same focus and demand that of yourself.”
Scheel said that he believed the Tigers’ press would be too much for the Bearcats, but his team didn’t let him down.
“After today’s shootaround, I felt like we were going to be on the losing end of this game. I’m glad that they proved me wrong. I didn’t have a good feeling, our energy was low, but they stepped up big time today and played inspired throughout the full 40 minutes. Second half, we handled their press much better because they were more aggressive against it.”
The Bearcats shot 53 percent from the floor to Fort Hays’ 41 percent. The Tigers have made a living on offensive rebounds this year, and Saturday’s performance was no different, giving themselves 17 second-chance opportunities. Northwest had seven offensive rebounds, but lost the total board battle by just four, 40-36.
After trailing by nine points at the half, 40-31, the Tigers made things tough on the Bearcats by whittling the lead down to two points in the middle part of the third quarter.
Benson said that her team’s playing with a lead in a tight game gave the Cats an opportunity to show their mettle.
“We didn’t want to panic, we have to keep competing and staying patient,” Benson said. “We executed on offense and stayed aggressive on defense to get the big lead back like we had before.”
By the end of the third quarter, Northwest stretched its lead back to 65-54 after Howe netted a prayer of a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
In last year’s matchup, the Bearcats scored exactly half of what they scored on Saturday. The year before, they scored just 52.
Saturday’s win marks the first time that Northwest has defeated Fort Hays since 2010. Martin, Curtis, and Roerig were upperclassmen on that team.
“This was a big game for us,” Meyer said. “It definitely will help with the games coming up, especially [Missouri Western] next weekend. We beat one of the top five teams in our conference, and better yet, one of the top 25 in the country.”
That Saturday matchup in St. Joseph will be Northwest’s next game, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
SCORING (FGM-FGA, 3PM-3PA, FTM-FTA) – NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY (7-10): Meyer 28 (8-13, 1-3, 11-12), Howe 25 (9-16, 4-7, 3-4), Benson 22 (8-17, 1-2, 5-6), McAndrews 11 (4-6, 3-5, 0-0), Dentlinger 3 (1-5, 0-3 1-2), Wilhelmi 2 (1-1, 0-0, 0-0), Williams 1 (0-0, 0-0, 1-2).
NO. 23 FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY (14-4): Kacperska 18 (7-13, 3-8, 1-2), Legette 15 (4-7, 0-0, 7-9), Faxon 14 (5-14, 1-4, 3-5), Stroyan 12 (6-9, 0-0, 0-0), Kennett 7 (3-13, 0-4, 1-2), Chandler 6 (3-6, 0-0, 0-0), Mittie 5 (2-5, 1-3, 0-0), Heim 3 (1-2, 1-2, 0-0).
REBOUNDS – NWMSU 36: Meyer 11, Benson 7, Howe 6, McAndrews 3, Dentlinger 3, Williams 2, Wilhelmi 1.
FHSU 40: Legette 9, Stroyan 7, Kennett 4, Rolfs 3, Mittie 3, Heim 2, Chandler 2, Kacperska 2, Faxon 1, Pimentel 1.
ASSISTS – NWMSU 13: Benson 9, Dentlinger 2, Williams 1, Howe 1, McAndrews 1.
FHSU 7: Chandler 2, Kacperska 2, Rolfs 1, Heim 1, Pimentel 1.
TURNOVERS – NWMSU 12.
FHSU 8.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Though Bailey Smith didn’t score in Saturday’s victory over Fort Hays, she contributed offensively in helping the Bearcats space the floor with good cutting and ball handling. The Bearcats play again next Saturday at Missouri Western.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Northwest’s Macy Williams looks for a cutter in Saturday afternoon’s victory over Fort Hays. The Bearcats had not defeated a ranked team since 2013 until the win.
