BOLIVAR, Mo. – Northeastern State could not recover from a poor start and fell 80-74 at Southwest Baptist on Thursday night.  The RiverHawks' (9-10, 5-7 MIAA) offense kicked in during the second half and nearly erased a 17-point deficit behind Lauryn Blevins' 26-point effort.   
 
The NSU redshirt-freshman was two points short of her career mark but would leave SBU (13-8, 5-7 MIAA) perfect on 12-for-12 shooting.  Blevins banked 14 straight shots through Thursday evening, including her final two on Saturday afternoon against Pitt State, she is now four away from tying a MIAA record that was last set in 2003.
 
Miranda Griffin connected on a three-pointer in the opening minute to give the RiverHawks their only lead (3-2) of the evening.  The Bearcats took advantage of a cold shooting spell where NSU went 1-for-10 from the field and took an 18-6 lead that the RiverHawks could not come back from. 
 
Southwest Baptist took their largest advantage (64-47) of the evening just seconds in the fourth period.  Blevins assisted in digging the RiverHawks out of the hole in the final quarter with eight points and following a Cailyn Long three-pointer they were within five points (73-68).  Following a NSU timeout, the Bearcats missed a three but picked up a critical rebound, and were put to the line where Southwest Baptist iced the game.
 
Griffin finished the evening with a season high 17 points and connected on a career high five three-pointers.  Cenia Hayes who missed the last two contests had ten points off the RiverHawks' bench.
 
The RiverHawks were 39.4 percent (28-71) from the field but 9-for-30 from the arc; Southwest Baptist shot 40.0 percent (22-55) on their side of the floor.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1 – Lauren Woods made her first career start in a NSU uniform.
22 – Northeastern State more than doubled SBU's points off of turnovers with 22 to the Bearcats' ten.
46 – The RiverHawks led 46-40 in rebounds which was their best evening on the glass since they had a season high of 50 at home against SBU.
 
COMING UP
Northeastern State heads to Central Missouri next to face the Jennies on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.