PITTSBURG, Kan. – Mary Jane Buschmann picked up her second career double-double but Northeastern State couldn't slow down #9 Pittsburg State at the arc on Saturday afternoon.  The Gorillas dropped 13 three-pointers on NSU to send them to a 72-60 road loss.

Northeastern State played the nationally ranked Gorillas with a limited bench of only seven players on the active roster.  Buschmann matched her career high in rebounds with 12 and had 16 points to pace the RiverHawks.   Despite the limited bench, NSU out-rebounded Pitt State by seven with 37 boards, and it was the fourth time this season that the RiverHawks grabbed more boards than their opponent.  

Additionally, NSU shot the ball better than Pitt State going 44.4-percent (24-54) from the field, while the Gorillas went 41.4-percent (24-58) on their side of the court.  Despite shooting well, most of NSU's points were inside with the RiverHawks shooting 3-for-12 from the arc against a Pitt State defense who had a the seventh best three-point defense in the nation heading into Saturday's contest. 

Turnovers hampered the RiverHawks and with 14 they doubled Pitt State's total.  The Gorillas converted those into 17 points, while Northeastern State had six points off of PSU turnovers. 

The RiverHawks competed head-to-head with the Gorillas early and kept it a one possession game through the first quarter.  However, Pitt State opened the second quarter with a 13-2 run on the RiverHawks and it remained a double-digit, 32-22, lead into the locker room. 

Northeastern State trailed the rest of the way and they would get within seven points twice in the second half.  Rylie Torrey converted an old-fashioned three-point play at the 7:39 mark in the fourth period to make the score 56-49, but NSU wouldn't hit another field-goal for five minutes as PSU's lead extended out to 19 points.   The RiverHawks did trim down the lead in the closing 90 seconds with seven unanswered points.

Torrey had her 19th straight double-digit game with 12 points, all coming in the second half for NSU.  Hailey Chamberlin was one short of matching a career scoring mark with ten points and Alexis Hill had eight rebounds and six points.

Pitt State's Mikaela Burgess scored a game high 25 points with seven three-pointers as the Gorillas go to 18-3 and 10-2 in the MIAA.  Northeastern State has dropped their sixth in a row and will fall to 6-13 and 2-9 in the MIAA.

The RiverHawks will return home on Feb. 2 to host Southwest Baptist at 5:30 p.m. inside the NSU Event Center.