TAHLEQUAH -- Northeastern State omen's basketball opened the 2023-24 season Friday night, taking a 68-58 loss against Northwestern Oklahoma to start the campaign inside the NSU Event Center.
In their first game under head coach
Keith Ferguson, NSU put up a strong fight against the Rangers throughout the night. After being down 17-10 to conclude the opening quarter, they stormed to strike on eight unanswered points to take an 18-17 lead with 7:56 left in the half. However, the Rangers bounced back, outscoring NSU 15-8 the rest of the period to take a 32-26 lead to the break.
The second half produced similar fireworks to start, as NSU regained the lead again in the third quarter, but NWOSU kept the RiverHawks from pulling away and limited them to 2-of-13 shooting in the fourth quarter to snag the victory.
Courtney Lee led all NSU players with 16 points, 14 of which came in the second half.
Halie Jones also hit double figures with 14 in her NSU debut.
The RiverHawks return to the court on Saturday at 5:30 p.m., facing UMary to round out their participation in the Central Region Classic.
