The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team picked up a 57-49 victory over Northwest Missouri on Saturday. With the victory, SBU finishes the regular season with a 16-12 (11-11 MIAA) record on the season and have secured the #9 seed in the MIAA Postseason Tournament.
Both teams came out of the gate with a slow start, as the two teams were tied 4-4 with 7:30 remaining in the first quarter. Caylee Richardson gave SBU their first lead of the game (5-4) on a free throw with 5:23 left in the quarter, and after NWMSU took a 7-5 lead Dilonna Johnson hit a jumper with 2:13 in the quarter to tie the game at 7-7. Northwest would hit one more jumper in the period, but SBU would trail 9-7 heading into the second quarter.
Northwest Missouri was the first to strike in the second quarter, hitting a three, as SBU trailed 12-7 with 8:20 left in the half. Southwest Baptist promptly responded with an 11-0 run by spreading out the offense with shots from Johnson, Sarah Magana, Alex Botkin, and Richardson to take an 18-12 lead with 4:08 left in the half. However, NWMSU came back with a 9-1 run to close out the half as SBU went into the break trailing 21-19.
Coming out of the half a Mackenzie Skupa old-fashioned three-point play put the Bearcats on top 22-21, but Northwest Missouri responded back to re-take the lead at 25-22 with 8:55 left in the third quarter. Southwest Baptist and Northwest Missouri continued to battle back-and-forth with 8 lead changes and 3 ties as the two teams went into the fourth quarter tied 34-34.
In the final quarter of action, both teams once again held small lead, with NWMSU holding a 41-38 advantage with 6:08 remaining. Four straight free throws, two from Richardson and two from Megan Rosenbohm, gave SBU a 42-41 lead starting a 13-0 run by the Bearcats. SBU continued to hold a double-digit lead (53-43) with 1:03 remaining and would connect on free throws down the stretch to come away with a 57-49 victory.
The Bearcats were led in scoring by Caylee Richardson and Sarah Magana who each had 11 points, while Richardson also added a game high 9 rebounds in the win. As a team SBU shot 27.8% from the field, 11.8% from beyond the arc, and 83.3% from the free throw line.
SBU has earned the #9 seed in the MIAA Postseason Tournament and will travel to Nebraska-Kearney to take on the #8 seeded Lopers. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. from Kearney, Nebraska on Monday, February 29.
