BOLIVAR, Mo. – Rylie Torrey scored a career high 32 points but Northeastern State's furious late rally came up short 77-68 on Saturday at Southwest Baptist in MIAA play.

Northeastern State used an 11-2 run in the final three minutes to get within two possessions of the Bearcats 73-68 with 41 seconds left.  Being forced the foul the extend the game, NSU could not cut further into the SBU lead to halt the late RiverHawks rally.

Torrey knocked down five three pointers and went 11-for-19 from the field for NSU's first 30-point performance since Taylor Lewis scored 30 on Feb. 27, 2012 against Arkansas-Fort Smith. Cailyn Long came out strong in the second half with ten of her 18 points and had a team high seven rebounds off the NSU bench.

The rebounding game was near even for both teams with the Bearcats having a slight 32-to-30 advantage.  Northeastern State had 13 turnovers with was two more than SBU but the RiverHawks had a 21-to-14 lead on points off of turnovers. 

Southwest Baptist shot nearly 60-percent through the first three periods but went 5-for-14 in the final ten minutes to open the door for NSU who shot 16-for-28 out of the halftime break.  The RiverHawks finished the day with 46.3-percent shooting (25-54) and Southwest Baptist going 52.9-percent (27-51) on their side of the floor.

Torrey had 10 of NSU's first 13 points in the opening quarter and a three pointer with 2:31 left got the RiverHawks back within three (13-10) of the Bearcats.  However, SBU closed the period on an 8-3 run and the RiverHawks trailed 21-13. 

In the second half, Torrey knocked down a trey with 7:19 left in the third period to push the SBU lead back down to single digits, 44-35, but their deficit grew to 17 points later in the period on six unanswered points.  Toward the end of the period and at the start of the fourth, Torrey went off with straight NSU ten points to bring the SBU lead down to 60-51.   Long later started NSU's late surge with a trey to start the RiverHawks 11-2 run but time would run out.

Southwest Baptist (7-2, 1-1 MIAA) was led by Caylee Richardson who had 16 points.

Saturday's loss is the fifth in a row for NSU and will send them to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in the MIAA.

The RiverHawks will return home to the NSU Event Center to face Bacone on Tuesday for a non-conference contest at 5:30 p.m.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Storm Bureau had a NSU career high six points off the bench.
- Torrey was one three pointer short of matching her career mark that was sent at Rogers State on Nov. 16.
- Torrey's 11 shots made is the most for a NSU player since Jan. 4, 2016 where Mary Jane Buschmann had ten at Northwest Missouri State.
- Northeastern State's bench outscored SBU 30-to-21.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE (2-6 (0-3 MIAA))
Torrey, Rylie 11-19 5-6 32; Long, Cailyn 6-11 4-6 18; Bureau, Storm 3-4 0-1 6; Hill, Alexis 3-5 0-0 6; Buschmann, Mary Jane 2-3 0-0 4; Looney, Kylie 0-3 2-2 2; Chamberlin, Hailey 0-3 0-0 0; Strange, Destiny 0-1 0-0 0; Griffin, Miranda 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 11-15 68.

SOUTHWEST BAPTIST (7-2 (1-1 MIAA))
Richardson,Caylee 7-12 2-2 16; Peterson,Kiana 5-6 3-5 14; Strong,Madison 5-9 0-0 14; Isaac,Aliyah 3-4 4-6 10; Rosenbohm,Megan 2-9 4-4 9; Botkin,Alex 3-6 0-2 7; Skupa,Mackenzie 2-3 1-3 5; Henderson,Morgan 0-0 2-2 2; Cetin,Gokce 0-0 0-0 0; O'Keefe,Natalie 0-0 0-0 0; Schaaf,Kameron 0-1 0-0 0; Vierkant,Laura 0-0 0-0 0; Jackson,Taylor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-51 16-24 77.
 
Northeastern State............   13   15   20   20  -   68
Southwest Baptist.............   21   18   21   17  -   77
 
3-point goals--Northeastern State 7-23 (Torrey, Rylie 5-10; Long, Cailyn 2-6; Hill, Alexis 0-1; Buschmann, Mary Jane 0-1; Looney, Kylie 0-3; Griffin, Miranda 0-2), Southwest Baptist 7-15 (Strong,Madison 4-7; Rosenbohm,Megan 1-4; Peterson,Kiana 1-2; Botkin,Alex 1-2).
Fouled out—Northeastern State-None, Southwest Baptist-None.
Rebounds--Northeastern State 30 (Long, Cailyn 7), Southwest Baptist 32 (Peterson,Kiana 11).
Assists—Northeastern State 11 (Hill, Alexis 5), Southwest Baptist 20 (Isaac,Aliyah 8).
Total fouls--Northeastern State 19, Southwest Baptist 17.
Technical fouls--Northeastern State-None, Southwest Baptist-None.
A-711