The headline: Northeastern State will open the final month of the regular season on Thursday looking to halt a six game skid with three losses coming at the hands of top-12 teams during that stretch run.  With the MIAA postseason tournament coming at the end of the month the RiverHawks have the tiebreaker over Northwest Missouri for the final spot into the tournament.  Southwest Baptist is just one game ahead of NSU in the standings tied with Nebraska-Kearney; the RiverHawks have two games against the Lopers in final eight regular season contests.  Rylie Torrey continues to pace the RiverHawks in scoring with 17.3 points a game which is fourth highest in the MIAA.  The NSU sophomore has scoring 10+ points in all 19 games this season.

At the line: Northeastern State leads the MIAA in free-throw percentage and entering this Thursday's contest are 78.5-percent at the line with Rylie Torrey second overall at 89.1-percent.  NSU's best season at the line was in 1990-91 season were they went 75.7-percent during the NAIA era.

Last time out for NSU: 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. 

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Northeastern State (6-13, 2-9 MIAA) vs. Southwest Baptist (11-9, 3-8 MIAA)
Feb. 2, 2017 | 5:30 p.m. | NSU Event Center
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio | Game Notes

The series with Southwest Baptist: Since 2004, the RiverHawks trail the overall series 5-6 when facing the Bearcats.  At Northeastern State, the RiverHawks trail the series 4-2.  The last NSU home win against Southwest Baptist came on Jan. 9, 2014 (60-47).

Last time out for Southwest Baptist: The Southwest Baptist University Women's Basketball team came up just short of #7 Emporia State falling 84-77, dropping to 11-9 (3-8) MIAA on the season.

The Bearcats were led in scoring by Megan Rosenbohm with 31, Kameron Schaaf with 11, and Caylee Richardson with 10. Richardson also led SBU with 13 rebounds, tying her career high and giving her a double-double. Natalie O'Keefe had a career high 6 blocks in the contest. SBU shot 45.0-percent from the field, 22.2-percent from beyond the arc, and 95.5-percent from the free throw line.

Scouting Southwest Baptist: The Bearcats come to Northeastern State on a five game skid and on the road they are 1-5.  With just under 73 points a game, SBU is sixth in the MIAA in scoring and they are on top of the league in field goal percentage (46.5).  Megan Rosenbohm leads SBU with 16.5 points per game which is fifth highest in the MIAA.  Caylee Richardson is SBU's second player in double-digits with 11.2 points and she leads SBU in rebounding with 7.4 boards per game.  

NSU's last time out against Southwest Baptist: Rylie Torrey scored a career high 32 points but Northeastern State's furious late rally came up short 77-68 on Dec. 10 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.