Women's Basketball Rekindles Highway 71 Rivalry In Search Of 10-0 Start - Missouri Western State University Athletics

Game 10 | --/#13 Missouri Western (9-0, 4-0 MIAA) at Northwest Missouri State (8-2, 3-1 MIAA)
Saturday, December 18
1:30 p.m. | Maryville, Mo.

Griffon Sports Network
680 AM | 95.3 FM | 680kfeq.com/live-stream
Broadcast Team
Tommy Rezac (@TommyKFEQ)
Tom Smith
Danielle Sachse (@dsoxyyy)

Broadcast - themiaanetwork.com/mwsugriffons
Live Stats - bearcatsports.com/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

The Coaches
Candi Whitaker
3rd Season | 36-24 (.600)

Austin Meyer
4th Season | 35-55 (.389)

Missouri Western owns a 42-31 lead in the overall series with Northwest Missouri State, although the Bearcats were able to sweep the season series last year, the first time since 2010-11. The Griffons are 7-3 in the last 10 meetings between the teams, and have won five of the last seven contests in Maryville - the latest win a 77-49 triumph on Feb. 25, 2020.

Under fourth year head coach Austin Meyer, Northwest Missouri has been steadily improving year-over-year and have opened the 2021-22 campaign 8-2 (3-1 MIAA). Mallory McConkey and Molly Hartnett lead the Bearcat offense, averaging 11.4 and 11.3 pts/gm respectively. Peyton Kelderman is just outside of the double-digit range, chipping in 9.2 points per contest.

As a team, Northwest Missouri shoots the ball well, hitting at a 42.5 percent (228-537) pace from the floor and a 33.8 percent (70-207) rate from three-point range. They are quite stingy in long-range defense, allowing just 27 makes on 96 attempts for a 28.1 percent success rate for opponents. Against MIAA foes, that percentage drops to 27.8 percent (10-36). Overall, Northwest Missouri State leads the league and ranks no. 19 in the country in scoring defense, giving up just 53.1 points per contest, including a 29-point game against McKendree.

With an extra day’s rest following Saturday’s hard-fought win over Central Missouri, the no. 13 Griffons came out firing on all cylinders Tuesday night, dispatching William Jewell 98-34. The 64-point margin is the largest ever for Missouri Western women’s basketball against a fellow NCAA Division II member, and the fifth-highest overall margin of victory in program history. Six Griffons finished in double figures on the night, led by Brionna Budgetts with 13.

Missouri Western opened with a 15-2 run over the first five minutes and never looked back. With the game well in hand, head coach Candi Whitaker was able to give the next generation of Griffon basketball significant minutes in the contest, and Abby Bala and Alyssa Bonilla made the most of the time. Bala knocked in 11 points on 4-5 shooting in just 10 minutes on the court, adding two assists. Bonilla saw a bit more time in the lineup, grabbing three rebounds, a steal and an assist to go with 10 points.

The Missouri Western women’s basketball team lost at Northwest Missouri State 63-49, to drop to 3-10 on the 2020-21 season.

It was a back-and-forth first quarter where neither led by more than three points, and MWSU led 14-13 at the end of one. The game stayed that way until the final 3:30 of the second quarter as Northwest Missouri State used a 12-1 run to open an 11-point lead and led 33-24 at halftime. The Bearcats tied a season-high with nine three-pointers in the first half in 20 attempts against the Griffon zone.

Missouri Western pulled to within seven points, 36-29, midway through the third quarter and had chances to cut into the lead, but the Griffs went just 1-of-11 from the field in the third and got outscored 8-5 in the period.

Northwest then put the game away early in the fourth quarter as they made their first six three-pointers of the quarter and built a 23-point lead. MWSU rallied late with a 9-0 run but dropped both games to the Bearcats this season for the first time since the 2010-2011 season.

Mary Fultz led Missouri Western with 11 points off the bench, while Asia McCoy added nine points and six rebounds, and Camille Evans scored eight points.

With the gritty, statement win over RV Central Missouri, the Griffons jumped seven places in the D2SIDA Women’s Basketball Media Poll this week, leapfrogging Fort Hays State, which plummeted from the no. 2 spot. Missouri Western returned to the Top 25 for the first time since the 2016-17 season on Dec. 7, debuting at #20. After receiving three votes in the initial installment of the D2SIDA Central Region rankings, the Griffons have continued to impress, debuting at no. 10 on Nov. 22 and moving up to no. 2 in the region in the Dec. 13 rankings. MWSU has made the most of a very challenging non-conference schedule, going 4-0 for the first time since the 2015-16 season against an entirely NCAA Division II-based schedule.

Missouri Western’s 64-point win over William Jewell was its largest margin ever against an NCAA Division II peer, and tied for the fifth-largest win against any opposition in program history. While impressive, though, it’s not the largest margin of victory between NCAA Division II schools overall - that mark is currently held by Lubbock Christian, which defeated Texas A&M International by 69 points (88-19) on Feb. 9, 2019.

The win was the fifth time that the Griffons won by 64 points, with three of those previous wins (113-49 vs. Evangel, 99-35 vs. Graceland, 108-44 vs. University of St. Mary) coming during the 2015-16 season that saw Missouri Western earn an MIAA regular season championship. Finding the largest ever win for the Griffons, takes us back to the earliest days of the program. In just its second season of existence, Missouri Western downed fellow AIAW member Rockhurst by a 111-15 margin - date unknown, game three in 1976-77.

Saturday’s matchup will provide a bit of insight into one of the great paradoxes of life, as Missouri Western brings the top offense in the league (80.2 pts/gm-14th in DII, +22.0 margin-7th) to bear against the MIAA’s top-ranked defense (19th in DII) in Northwest Missouri State, allowing just 53.1 pts/gm.

With Connie Clarke averaging near or above a double-double (11.7 pts, 9.6 reb) on the year, her double-doubles are expected, but Missouri Western has also seen standout performances from two other players in its seven total on the year.

Connie Clarke
- vs. Southeastern Okla. (13 Nov.) - 19 pts, 10 reb.
- vs. Illinois-Springfield (22 Nov.) - 12 pts, 15 reb.
- vs. Rogers State (2 Dec.) - 21 pts, 12 reb.
- at Lincoln (9 Dec.) - 14 pts, 12 reb.

Corbyn Cunningham
- vs. Illinois-Springfield (22 Nov.) - 21 pts, 10 reb.
- at Lincoln (9 Dec.) - 21 pts, 10 reb.

Brionna Budgetts
- vs. RV/-- Central Missouri (11 Dec.) - 19 pts, 10 reb.

For just the second time this season, Missouri Western fell short of the 40-rebound plateau in back-to-back games, pulling down 38 (10 off, 28 def) against the Cardinals after just 29 (11 off, 18 def) against Central Missouri. The Griffons’ previous low was a a 35-rebound (12 off, 23 def) performance against Southeastern Oklahoma State on Nov. 13.

Missouri Western averages 40.6 boards per game and holds its opponents to just 32.7, and has close to double the overall offensive rebounds on the year, 123 to 75. The Griffons have twice come close to exactly balancing the scales, against Univ. of Sioux Falls (21 off, 25 def) and against Rogers State (23 off, 26 def).

After Tuesday, Missouri Western slipped past an idle Fort Hays State (+8.00) into a second-place tie with Nebraska-Kearney (also idle) with a +7.89 margin on the year.

With a big disparities on Saturday (25-12) and Tuesday (25-10), Missouri Western extended its league lead in turnover margin, averaging 7.22 fewer turnovers than its opponents on the year, almost twice the gap for second-best Emporia State (3.6) and the rest of the pack. The Griffons blazed past Lincoln in the steals line with Saturday’s result and average 11.44 per game to just 10.20 for the Blue Tigers and Central Oklahoma.

Saturday afternoon against Central Missouri was the first time this year that Missouri Western saw the same leading scorer in back-to-back games, and of its regular (12.5 min/gm and up) contributors only one player hasn’t hit the 10-point plateau in at least one game this year. The Griffons have also had at least two players finish every game with 10 or more points, and have had a player hit for 20 points or better in six of nine games on the year.

Tuesday night saw the Griffons’ four-game streak of 20-point scorers snapped as the offense ran roughshod through the Jewell defense, with six double-digit scorers on the night and points from every single player in the scorebook. The last time MWSU was held without a 20-point scorer was at Southwest Baptist, although Brionna Budgetts (14), Corbyn Cunningham (10) and Trinity Knapp (10) all finished with 10 or better.

While both Griffon basketball teams have seen long stretches of undefeated starts to both the overall season and MIAA play, recent history has seen just one team on big runs. The last time that both teams opened with 4-0 MIAA records was the 1997-98 season, well before any of the current Griffon players were born.

Making his debut as the “Voice of the Griffs” this season is Tommy Rezac. Joining Rezac for a majority of our home broadcasts is Griffon Hall of Famer Tom Smith. Danielle Sachse will be providing color commentary when Missouri Western is on the road this year.
For the 20th year, KFEQ 680 AM/95.3 FM is the home of the Griffon Sports Network, and Rezac also hosts the weekly Missouri Western Coaches Luncheon at the Hi-Ho Bar and Grill, carried on JoeTown 107.5.