TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team snapped a six-game losing skid with a 61-54 victory over Lindenwood Thursday night inside the NSU Event Center.
 
The RiverHawks improved to 6-14 on the season and 3-11 in the MIAA, while the Lions (7-13, 3-11 MIAA) lost their ninth-straight contest.
 
NSU was able to exact some revenge over an LWU squad that topped the green and white by a 57-52 margin in St. Charles earlier this season (Dec. 12). Northeastern State has now held Lindenwood to its two lowest scoring outputs of the year.
 
Senior guard Kate Bellamy paced the RiverHawks with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, marking the 11th time this season she has reached double figures. Sophomore guard Alexis Hill finished one off her career high with 13 points, while knocking down a career-high three 3-point shots. True freshman guard Kylie Looney also added 13 points for the winning cause. This was Hill's fourth double-figure scoring game of the season, and the last time NSU tasted victory was also the last time Looney reached double digits (Jan. 4 against Northwest Missouri State).
 
Northeastern State shot 37.3 percent (22-for-59) from the field, 31 percent (9-for-29) from behind the 3-point line and was a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. Lindenwood shot 31.5 percent (17-for-54) overall, 26.7 percent (4-for-15) from deep range and 76.2 percent (16-for-21) at the line.
 
The RiverHawks found themselves in a 21-16 hole at halftime thanks in large part to a nine-point first quarter and a seven-point second quarter. The winning side needed just six minutes of third-quarter action to double its first-half production, as they exploded for a momentum-swinging 24-point third 10-minute frame.
 
NSU opened the third on a 16-3 run that saw the green and white take a 32-24 lead that stretched to 40-31 by the end of the third quarter. Lindenwood battled back in the fourth to gain a 48-46 advantage with 3:36 to play, but the RiverHawks closed the contest on a 15-6 run to seal their victory and snap their losing streak.
 
NSU led in assists (13-7), blocks (3-1), points in the paint (24-16) bench points (10-6) and fewer turnovers (12-17). LWU led in rebounding (44-33), steals (8-5), points off turnovers (15-14), second-chance points (16-6) and fast-break points (6-2).
 
Kassidy Gengenbacher led all scorers with 18 points, and she also added eight rebounds. Charisse Williams netted 11 points and Jenny Rocha contributed 10. Vanessa Zailo exploded for 17 points and 21 rebounds against NSU earlier this season, but she was held to just four points and 12 boards this time around.
 
The RiverHawks will look to start a new streak when they play host to Lincoln at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 30 inside the NSU Event Center.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH RANDY GIPSON
Opening Statement…
"We didn't shoot the ball well in the first half. It made us feel like we weren't playing very well, but I thought we did defend well in the first half even though we didn't make any shots. Alexis Hill hitting a couple 3's in the second half gave us a spark. We had a lot of people who stepped up and took turns making shots. We executed offense better. I'm really happy for these players to fight hard like that and get a comeback win. Any win is good, but when you have to come back and fight like that, I think it's something that can help boost our confidence going forward."
 
On what he was thinking when Lindenwood made a run in the fourth quarter…
"I just told them to keep fighting. We needed somebody to make plays. We just needed to relax and not let the game be too difficult. When you struggle like we've struggled and you're as young as we are, it just gets to be a huge burden. We just told them to relax and keep running our stuff. We told them to stay in front on defense. They did that, and we had some people who made some big shots."
 
On snapping the six-game losing streak…
"Any win is great to get. I don't think about the streaks one way or another very much. We want to play well and taste a victory. I know we hadn't won in awhile, so it was good for our players to validate what we're trying to do. I like the way that the production was spread out amongst several people in the second half."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-