TAHLEQUAH – A monster third quarter by Northeastern State guided them to a 69-52 MIAA win on Saturday afternoon over Southwest Baptist.

The RiverHawks outscored the Bearcats 24-7 in the third period and were dominating on the glass, out-rebounding SBU 50-to-31 behind a double-double effort by Bailee Eldred.  The NSU junior had a career afternoon with 12 rebounds, 12 points, along with six assists.

"We shot it well and I thought we defended well," said head coach Fala Bullock.  "We grabbed a lot of defensive rebounds that allowed us to get out and play a little bit."  "Bailee did a nice job for us on the boards, she cleaned it up for us, and gave us the confidence to be able to run out and score quickly.

"We were right at the cusp in having to figure out if we were going to turn this thing right over and separate ourselves, or get into a knock down drag out.  I thought the ladies did a nice job moving the ball and scoring quick in transition, we pushed the ball on them (SBU), and that allowed us to score in bunches real quick."

Cailyn Long paced both teams on the floor with 18 points and nine rebounds.  Joi Bertrand was NSU's third player in double-figures with 12 points and she added five off the glass.

A shooting edge over the Bearcats gave Northeastern State a two possession lead for most of the first half.  Long came off the bench with eight points in the first quarter with the RiverHawks shooting 43.3-percent (13-30) from the field.  Southwest Baptist would only go 4-for-15 on the court in the second period but five made free throws kept the contest 34-30 at the half.

Northeastern State exploded out of the gates with 11 unanswered points out of the locker room and the Bearcats went over four minutes before getting on the scoreboard.  The RiverHawks defense forced the Bearcats to 2-for-14 shooting while expanding their lead to 58-37 by the end of the quarter.

The RiverHawks shot 45.6-percent on 26-for-57 shooting and at the line they were 12-for-14.  Southwest Baptist was led by Morgan Henderson who had 14 points off the bench and they shot 27-percent (17-63) on the floor.

Saturday's win snapped a modest two game skid and are 5-4 overall and 2-2 in MIAA play, the Bearcats fall to 7-3 and are 0-2 in league action.  

Northeastern State will be off until Dec. 19 where they will visit Texas Woman's for a 7 p.m. tip-off.