ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Missouri Western women's basketball (8-3, 3-0 MIAA) overcame an early deficit and held Nebraska-Kearney (9-3, 2-1 MIAA) without a field goal in the final five minutes in a 66-60 win over the Lopers on Thursday night at MWSU Fieldhouse.
The game got off to a somewhat tumultuous start when Missouri Western head coach
Ashton Feldhaus was ejected with 4:16 left in the first quarter after back-to-back technical fouls. With assistant coach
Kendall Spray taking over, the Griffons overcame a 19-11 deficit at the end of the first quarter and got it to within 31-30 by halftime.
The Griffons played well coming out of halftime, scoring 25 third quarter points and leading 55-50 entering the fourth. UNK retook the lead at 59-56 with 5:19 to go.
After a near three-minute scoring drought,
Jessica Ford tied the game with 3:19 to go on a corner three-pointer. The Griffons ended the game on a 7-1 run, including another big three by Ford to put the Griffs in front, 64-60, with 1:31 to go. Ford finished the game with seven points and six rebounds.
Marie Sepp tied her career-high Thursday with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting.
Alyssa Bonilla added 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Matilda Soderlund came off the bench to score nine, while
Kassandra Caron scored seven points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds in her first start of the season.
Defensively, MWSU held UNK to 19-of-56 shooting (33.9%) from the field, including 8-of-27 from three (29.6%). The Griffons forced 20 Loper turnovers and scored 24 points off of those, while UNK only scored five points off of 13 takeaways.
The Griffons extended their current winning streak to six games, and they've now beaten Nebraska-Kearney in each of the last three games played in St. Joseph.
Missouri Western stays home Saturday to face No. 3 Fort Hays State (12-0, 3-0 MIAA). Tip-off is now slated for 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) and will be available to stream on the MIAA Network.
