ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Northeastern State survived a late fourth quarter scare at Lindenwood to win 71-64 behind a 20-point effort by Rylie Torrey at the Hyland Arena.

The RiverHawks led 54-44 heading into the contest's final period but Lindenwood (5-7, 1-4 MIAA) scored 11 straight and overtook NSU, 57-to-56. Following a time out called by Northeastern State, Destiny Strange with 2:57 left picked up a monster trey to halt the Lady Lion momentum.

Strange's three pointer started off a NSU 14-3 run that would guide them to their fourth win out of their last five and second straight MIAA victory.

Northeastern State was out-shot and out-rebounded by the Lady Lions but eight three-pointers by the RiverHawks to three by Lindenwood was a tipping point in the contest.  Additionally, NSU with the seventh best free-throw percentage in the nation went 19-for-26 at the line, with LU going 13-for-21.

Torrey led NSU in scoring despite missing the majority of the first half due to two fouls; the sophomore had 18 in the second half, and had her fifth game with at-least 20-points.  Cailyn Long added 18 for NSU with six rebounds, Alexis Hill had 11, with Mary Jane Buschmann dropping ten and having a game high seven rebounds.

NSU led for over 31 minutes and went 38.6-percent (22-57) from the field with Lindenwood going 42.9-percent (24-56); the Lady Lions were led by Alex Haley who had 19.  Lindenwood grabbed 40 boards and led NSU by seven in the rebound margin.

The RiverHawks put together their best ten minutes in the third quarter where NSU out-scored the Lady Lions 24-to-16 on 61.5-percent shooting; Long and Torrey made up all of NSU's offense in the period.

Thursday's win puts the RiverHawks at 6-7 overall and 2-3 in the MIAA heading into their Saturday contest at Lincoln who fell 66-64 to Central Oklahoma; the Blue Tigers are 1-11 and winless in their first five MIAA contests.

Tip off for Saturday's game will be at 1:30 p.m. with Scott Pettus carrying the contest live on Billy Country 96.3 FM.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Northeastern State led 16-to-6 in points off of turnovers by were out-scored in the paint, in second chance, fast break, and bench points.
- Rylie Torrey has made 15 straight free-throws and is 88.6-percent at the line this season.
- First time that the RiveHawks have won back-to-back MIAA contests since Jan. 5-8, 2015 where they beat Northwest Missouri and Southwest Baptist.
 
NEWSPAPER BOX SCORE
NORTHEASTERN STATE (6-7, 2-3 MIAA)
Torrey, Rylie 6-12 7-7 20; Long, Cailyn 7-14 3-4 18; Hill, Alexis 2-6 5-8 11; Buschmann, Mary Jane 3-7 2-4 10; Looney, Kylie 2-10 1-1 6; Strange, Destiny 1-5 1-2 4; Chamberlin, Hailey 1-1 0-0 2; Griffin, Miranda 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 19-26 71.
 
LINDENWOOD (5-7, 1-4 MIAA)
Haley,Alex 7-14 3-4 19; Ross,Sara 4-8 5-9 13; Walker,Gabby 4-9 4-6 12; Williams,Charisse 4-11 0-0 8; Butler,Jerricah 2-5 1-2 6; Maenpaa,Beth 2-5 0-0 4; Reller,Hannah 1-3 0-0 2; Rapp,CeCe 0-1 0-0 0; Foster,Megan 0-0 0-0 0; Venson,Breanna 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 13-21 64.
 
Northeastern State............   16   14   24   17  -   71
Lindenwood....................   16   12   16   20  -   64
 
3-point goals--Northeastern State 8-28 (Hill, Alexis 2-4; Buschmann, Mary Jane 2-4; Torrey, Rylie 1-5; Looney, Kylie 1-7; Strange, Destiny 1-1; Long, Cailyn 1-5; Griffin, Miranda 0-2), Lindenwood 3-9 (Haley,Alex 2-5; Butler,Jerricah 1-2; Williams,Charisse 0-1; Ross,Sara 0-1).
Fouled out--Northeastern State-None, Lindenwood-Haley,Alex; Ross,Sara.
Rebounds--Northeastern State 33 (Buschmann, Mary Jane 7), Lindenwood 40 (Butler,Jerricah 9).
Assists--Northeastern State 10 (Hill, Alexis 3),Lindenwood 3 (Ross,Sara 1; Haley,Alex 1; Maenpaa,Beth 1). Total fouls--Northeastern State 15, Lindenwood 24.
Technical fouls—Northeastern State-None, Lindenwood-TEAM.
A-639