TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State dominated the final three quarters to smashed an 88-50 win over Bacone on Tuesday evening at the NSU Event Center.  Kylie Looney scored a career high 21 points with Rylie Torrey adding the same number for the RiverHawks.
 
Tuesday's win snapped a five game skid for Northeastern State and it was their first home victory of the season.
 
"We are working to get these kids to play hard at this level and what they are capable of and she (Kylie) is one of them that we feel like has not been near the level that she is capable of being," said head coach Randy Gipson. "It starts in practice and she had a couple of good practices yesterday and I think she carried it over." 

"These kids these days they get down and they press, think about what might go wrong but what they need to do is go to work, and work really hard in practice everyday.  I think she did that yesterday and I'm hopeful that this is a sign of things to come."
 
Looney took a game high 13 shots, making eight, with five of them coming from beyond the arc.  Additionally, she had six rebounds, and four assists in the win.
 
Cailyn Long scored 17 points and Destiny Strange came off the bench with 13.  The RiverHawks shot 57.4-percent (31-54) from the field and sank nine three-pointer against the Warriors.  In rebounds, NSU overwhelmingly controlled the glass with 38 to Bacone's 23.  Strange had a game high eight with Alexis Hill adding seven with five assists.   Miranda Griffin came off the bench with a career and game high six assists.
 
Bacone shot 32.7 percent (17-52) from the field and dropped nine three-pointers.
 
The RiverHawks opened up with a 15-7 lead but the Warriors dropped four-straight treys to take a four-point lead with a minute left in the opening period.   Storm Bureau snapped the Bacone run with a layup and a pair of free throws to even the score at 19 each at the end of the first quarter.
 
Long carried NSU with nine straight points to cap off a 14-0 run near halftime to guide the RiverHawks to a sizeable 45-30 lead into the locker room.  Despite the lull in the first quarter, Northeastern State shot 58.3-percent (14-24) from the field with Long picking up 11 alone in the second quarter.
 
In the second half, NSU continued their hot play and went 56.7-percent (17-30) on the floor.   The RiverHaws out-scored Bacone 43-to-20 in the final 20 minutes to roll to the win on their home floor.
 
Ashley Barry-Wallace led Bacone with nine points in what was an exhibition contest for them; the RiverHawks will move to 3-6 overall this season.

"The team got on the same page with each other, we moved the ball, mde some shots, and built a lead," added Gipson.  "Those are good things that could possibly be confidence builders for us looking forward."
 
Northeastern State will return to MIAA action on Saturday where they will host Northwest Missouri State at 1:30 p.m.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Northeastern State outscored Bacone 38-to-14 in the paint.
- First time since Jan. 14, 2014 vs. Missouri Southern that the RiverHawks shot higher than 50-percent from the field.
- The RiverHawks limited themselves to 12 turnovers which was their lowest since their season opener against Southeastern Oklahoma.

BACONE
Barry-Wallace, Ashle 3-8 2-4 9; Edwards, Brittany 3-6 0-0 8; Coon, Brittany 3-6 0-0 8; Scarberry, Bailey 2-8 0-0 6; Tims, Asya 1-4 4-6 6; Miles, Cierra 2-4 1-1 6; Baker, Terri 1-3 0-0 3; Tidewell, Patricia 1-7 0-2 2; Traylor, Chasity 1-1 0-0 2; Fulmore, Keante 0-1 0-0 0; Basks, Emily 0-1 0-0 0; Nichols, Olivia 0-1 0-0 0; Richey, Jasmine 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-52 7-13 50.
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE (3-6)
Torrey, Rylie 6-9 6-6 21; Looney, Kylie 8-13 0-0 21; Long, Cailyn 6-8 4-4 17; Strange, Destiny 6-8 1-2 13; Hill, Alexis 2-4 1-1 5; Buschmann, Mary Jane 2-2 1-2 5; Bureau, Storm 1-2 2-2 4; Chamberlin, Hailey 0-4 2-2 2; Griffin, Miranda 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 31-54 17-19 88.
 
Bacone........................   19   11   11    9  -   50
Northeastern State............   19   26   23   20  -   88
 
3-point goals--Bacone 9-24 (Coon, Brittany 2-4; Scarberry, Bailey 2-7; Edwards, Brittany 2-4; Miles, Cierra 1-2; Barry-Wallace, Ashle 1-1; Baker, Terri 1-2; Tidewell, Patricia 0-4), Northeastern State 9-23 (Looney, Kylie 5-9; Torrey, Rylie 3-5; Long, Cailyn 1-3; Griffin, Miranda 0-4; Hill, Alexis 0-1; Strange, Destiny 0-1). Fouled out--Bacone-None, Northeastern State-None.
Rebounds--Bacone 23 (Barry-Wallace, Ashle 7), Northeastern State 38 (Strange, Destiny 8).
Assists--Bacone 9 (Edwards, Brittany 4), Northeastern State 26 (Griffin, Miranda 6).
Total fouls--Bacone 17, Northeastern State 12.
Technical fouls--Bacone-None, Northeastern
State-None. A-535