TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State survived a third-quarter swoon, during which the RiverHawks fell behind by 10 points, to rally and pull away for a 61-47 win over in-state rival Rogers State on Saturday afternoon at the NSU Event Center.
Tor'e Alford posted her fourth straight double-digit scoring performance with 17 points to lead NSU (12-10, 8-8 MIAA). The RiverHawks are in eighth place in the conference standings and are four games ahead of Rogers State (9-13, 4-12) and Central Oklahoma, who are tied for 11
th. The top 10 teams qualify for the MIAA postseason basketball tournament, something NSU is seeking to do for the first time since 2018.
Under first-year coach
Keith Ferguson, the RiverHawks also have recorded their most wins in a season since the 2014-15 team won 12 games. NSU has six regular-season games remaining as it looks to post its first winning campaign since 2012-13, when the RiverHawks finished 19-8.
In a low-scoring affair, NSU led 24-22 at halftime, but the Hillcats surged coming out of the break. A 12-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer by Alayzha Knapp with 4:01 left in the third quarter, put Rogers State ahead 36-26. Knapp led the Hillcats with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
But just when it seemed like the RiverHawks might be buried, they found another gear, scoring seven straight points to narrow the gap, and they trailed only 42-38 entering the final quarter.
Alford had a jumper and a 3-pointer during a 10-0 NSU run to start the fourth quarter, putting the RiverHawks ahead 48-42, and Rogers State never recovered. NSU limited the Hillcats to only five points in the quarter, as Rogers State made only 1 of 18 shots (compared to 7 of 11 for the RiverHawks).
The win gave NSU a regular-season sweep of the Hillcats as well as an 8-7 lead in the all-time series between the programs. It was NSU's first homecourt win over Rogers State since Dec. 20, 2019.
Alford was NSU's only double-figure scorer, but the RiverHawks had good balance on the stat sheet, with
Tess Talo Tomokino and
Madina Camara finishing with nine points each and
Halie Jones and
Aubrey Brown scoring eight points each.
Grace Abercrombie scored only four points but grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds – the most in a single game this season by a NSU player.
NSU will play two games on the road next week, at Missouri Western on Thursday and Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, before returning home to host Newman (Kan.) on Feb. 22.
