TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State had four in double-figures but was edged at home to Northwest Missouri, 71-69 inside the NSU Event Center on Thursday evening.
Tor'e Alford,
Courtney Lee, and
Tess Talo Tomokino paced the RiverHawks with 14 points.
Halie Jones hit double-digits for the 11th time in 12 contests this season with ten points. Lee led NSU with eight rebounds, and Tomokino had seven.
The RiverHawks were the better shooting team Thursday and held a rebounding advantage over Northwest Missouri but it was an 18-3 run between the third and fourth quarters that allowed the Bearcats to overtake NSU. Trailing 65-57 with 7:10 left, the RiverHawks held the Bearcats without a made shot for the next three minutes while scoring five unanswered to make it a one-possession game.
NSU continued to push the Bearcats in the final minutes and they would take a 69-67 lead on a pair of free throws from Tomokino with 1:57 left. However, the RiverHawks would go scoreless the rest of the way with the Bearcats making a go-ahead bucket with 55 seconds to go.
Northeastern State had one final chance for a tie with a half-second left but they couldn't get a shot off on time as they dropped to 5-7 (1-5 MIAA).
Northwest Missouri (11-2, 5-2 MIAA) takes its fourth consecutive against the RiverHawks with Jayna Green having a game-high 17 points.
Northeastern State remains at home to host Missouri Western on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
