Box Score

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BOLIVAR, Mo. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team defeated Southwest Baptist 59-43 Saturday night at Meyer Sports Center.
 
The RiverHawks (9-5, 4-2 MIAA) committed a season-low six turnovers and earned their first league road win. The Bearcats (6-8, 1-5 MIAA) dropped their fourth-straight contest.
 
Senior guard Taylor Lewis led the visitors with 18 points, and sophomore guard Fontana Tate tied her career high with 13 of her own.
 
NSU was outrebounded 40-32, but the green and white led in steals (7-2), blocks (3-0), points in the paint (24-20), points off turnovers (13-4), and turnovers committed (6-14).
 
Jacqui Zelenka scored the first basket of the game to give SBU a 2-0 lead, but Northeastern State went on a 10-0 run and never trailed again.
 
The RiverHawks led 28-14 at the half, and they were able to build a 24-point advantage at 45-21 with 11:45 to play. Southwest Baptist fought all the way back to within 11 points at one point, but NSU would not allow the home side to get any closer.
 
Zelenka led the Bearcats with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Brittney Dukes came off the bench to score 13.
 
Northeastern State will stay on the road to face Central Oklahoma at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 16 in Edmond, Okla.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH RANDY GIPSON
On the season-low six turnovers…
“Being disciplined with the ball is something we strive for every day. We shot adequately, and we did not turn the ball over. We played really good team defense. It's a formula that we're trying to continue to get better at, and I thought our kids executed well on both ends of the floor.”
 
On not losing back-to-back games…
“These kids are competitive. This was a hard-fought game. We put everything into Wednesday's game (at Central Missouri), and it was obviously a lot closer than the score indicated. Our kids wanted to bounce back and get the winning feeling back. We're trying to compete and stay in this race. You have to find ways to win. It's good for us to bounce back in our second-consecutive road game. I'm happy we were able to get our first road win in the MIAA. That's good mentally for us.”
 
On Fontana Tate's career-high-tying 13 points…
“She was really solid. The Wednesday game was a little sub-par with the way she's been playing this semester. I was really pleased to see her respond well. She made good decisions with the ball. When the opportunities presented themselves to shoot the ball, she was ready. She made some big shots for us to help us build that lead, and then keep it in the second half.”
 
On the upcoming road game against Central Oklahoma…
“The way the schedule is set up, we have a lot of these stretches where we play several at home and several at home, so you have to get used to playing several in a row. To bounce back from a loss and get a win should really be a lift for us heading into Wednesday.”
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-