Game 19: Northeastern State (9-9, 5-6 MIAA) vs. Southwest Baptist (12-8, 4-7 MIAA) at 5:30 p.m. | February, 1, 2018
Bolivar, Mo. | John Q. Hammons Court
 

Live Stats	sidearmstats.com/sbuniv/wbball/
Live Stats for Media	sidearmstats.com/sbuniv/wbball/media
Live Audio	GoRiverHawksGo.com
Live Streaming Audio	portal.stretchinternet.com/nsu/
Play-by-Play	Scott Pettus
Live Streaming Video	TheMIAANetwork.com ($)
	Northeastern State Game Notes
	Southwest Baptist Game Notes

The Series 
The RiverHawks have won five of the last seven meetings with the Bearcats and are 4-4 while playing at Southwest Baptist.  In the 16 meetings with SBU, the RiverHawks trail the series 9-7.  In the prior meeting this season, Northeastern State overwhelmed the Bearcats during the third quarter in the NSU Event Center with a 69-52 win.  NSU junior Bailee Eldred had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Coaches
Fala Bullock is in her first season as head coach and was named to lead her alma mater on April 1, 2017 to replace Randy Gipson who retired after 18 years.  With six years of head coaching experience, Bullock is 107-83 overall and within conference play she is 66-59.  She has spent the last four seasons (2013-17) as head coach at NCAA Division II Armstrong State University, where she recorded a career mark of 60-52.  In her first season at Armstrong State, she led the Pirates to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in program history, and reached the Sweet 16. 

Bullock played for Gipson for two seasons, and was a graduate assistant under Gipson from 2004 to 2006.  As student-athlete, Bullock played in 57 games and NSU went 36-19, winning the 2003 Lone Star Conference Tournament, and made the program's first NCAA Tournament berth.   As a member of Gipson's coaching staff, NSU reached the Sweet 16 in 2004, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and 2006.

Kelsey Keizer (55-54) is in her fourth season on the Bearcat bench after leading SBU back to the MIAA Tournament in Kansas City for the first time in three years. Keizer and the Bearcats are coming off back-to-back winning seasons (16-14, 7-12 MIAA last year), which has not been done since the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons. 

Last Time Out for NSU 
An offensive lull in the middle quarters set Northeastern State back on Saturday, falling 65-50 to Pittsburg State at the NSU Event Center.   Bailee Eldred paced the RiverHawks with 13 points and finished the two game homestand with a split; Lauryn Blevins added 11 and Cailyn Long had nine.  Northeastern State ran out early with the lead thanks to solid inside play by Eldred who had ten points in the opening quarter, and maintained a 16-14 advantage over the Gorillas.  The RiverHawks' full head of steam came halt in the second quarter with Pitt State overtaking the lead with nine unanswered points.

Last Time Out for Southwest Baptist
A week after setting her career high in points against Lincoln, Bailey Rezabek reset that mark Sunday afternoon with 29 points including seven made threes. Unfortunately, the 29 points was not enough as Emporia State defeated Southwest Baptist, 81-67.  Rezabek scored her 29 points going 11 of 15 from the floor and 7 of 9 from deep.

MIAA Defense 
Northeastern State is second in MIAA play in field goal defense 36.7 percent, and are first in three-point defense at 26.4 percent.  When facing MIAA programs, NSU is averaging nearly five blocks a game which is fourth best with Joi Bertrand fourth in league blocks at 1.5 per game.

Coming Up
The RiverHawks will head to Warrensburg to face Central Missouri on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off