ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Northeastern State could not recover from a sluggish start in the second half and fell 58-49 Thursday to No. 24 ranked Missouri Western.
The Griffons (20-4, 15-3 MIAA) opened the third stanza with a 14-3 run and the RiverHawks couldn't shake a choppy shooting night where they went 15-for-48 from the field.
Tess Talo Tomokino led NSU with 10 points off the bench.
Grace Abercrombie had seven points and seven rebounds. The RiverHawks committed 22 turnovers, a season-high against MIAA foes this season. Missouri Western cashed those miscues in for +12 points over NSU for their tenth consecutive win overall.
Northeastern State (12-11, 8-9 MIAA) held the lead once in the opening three minutes where they started the tilt on a run of four unanswered points. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for NSU and evened the season series where the RiverHawks pulled in a 74-58 victory in Tahlequah on Jan. 6 over the Griffons which was MWSU's most recent loss.
The RiverHawks will remain on the road to face Northwest Missouri on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
