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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team picked up a third straight win with a 67-39 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon at the NSU Event Center.
 
This was the first time since Feb. 24-26, 2005 the RiverHawks (3-4) have held back-to-back opponents to fewer than 40 points.
 
Four members of the squad scored in double figures, led by 12 each from junior guard Fontana Tate and true freshman guard Jamie Jackson. Junior guard Chelsey Beathard chipped in 11 and sophomore guard Kate Bellamy added 10. All 10 members of the squad scored in the game.
 
Haley Schaefer was the lone member of the Savage Storm (4-2) with double digits, as she finished with 12 points.
 
Northeastern State never trailed in the contest, and the home team jumped out to a 27-6 lead before the midway point of the opening half. NSU hit 7 of its first 9 three-point attempts and began the game 10-of-14 from the field before cooling off.
 
A 22-point advantage was dwindled down to 15 at intermission (41-26), but the RiverHawks ballooned their lead up to 31 points in the second half before settling for the final 28-point margin.
 
NSU shot 40 percent (23-for-58) from the field, 37 percent (10-for-27) from downtown and 92 percent (11-for-12) at the free-throw line. The home team shot just 3-for-18 behind the three-point line after opening with a 7-for-9 barrage.
 
SEOSU shot 29 percent (14-for-48) from the field and was just 1-for-18 (6 percent) from distance and 56 percent (10-for-18) at the free-throw line. The RiverHawks won the rebounding advantage 44-31, and they also had 13 assists, eight steals and five blocks.
 
Northeastern State will now jump into league play with a road test at Lincoln University. The two teams will kickoff Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics action at 5:30 pm. Dec. 5 in Jefferson City, Mo.
 
Scoring Summary
SE Oklahoma State    26      13        39
Northeastern State     41      26        67

NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH RANDY GIPSON
Opening Statement…
"I think our kids are really starting to figure out how to impact the game defensively as a team. Everybody was working hard to stay in front of the ball and help each other out from the start. For the most part we executed offense and made good decisions on when to pass and when to shoot. We had some spurts where we shot well and some others where we didn't, but our defense stayed steady throughout. One thing we were concerned about was staying with it in the second half, and our ladies did a good job of that. I was proud of our defensive effort in the second half, particularly the rebounding.
 
On how the team looks heading into conference action…
"I don't think I've had a non-conference portion of the season like this before. To start as poorly as we did at understanding how to play and how to be a team. We've made tremendous progress in that area here in the last couple of weeks. Getting wins against who I think are some pretty good teams is helping to build some confidence going into conference play. I like how all of the kids on our roster are getting involved and starting to find ways to contribute. That's something else that bodes well as you move into the conference season."
 
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