RiverHawks Tame Southwest Baptist

BOLIVAR, MO --  Northeastern State's Jasmine Webb scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for a double-double in leading the RiverHawks past Southwest Baptist University 71-67 Tuesday night at Meyer Sports Center.

The victory improves Northeastern State's record to 5-2 while Southwest Baptist falls to 1-2.

"This is what we were looking for tonight a true road victory,'' said Northeastern State coach Randy Gipson. "We had a lot of people contribute to the win tonight, especially the way they defended. We had to move the ball quick and the people who got the ball had to be ready to take the shot.

"I was really happy with Jasmine (Webb). She was being real aggressive and was ready to score. A lot of her shots were away from the basket. She hit a lot of mid-range jumpers and threes. I was happy that she was ready to pull the trigger,'' said Gipson.

The RiverHawks shot 45 percent from the field canning 23-of-51 attempts including 11-of-24 from behind the arc for 45 percent and 10-of-15 at the free throw line.

The RiverHawks placed four players in double-figure scoring with Webb leading the way with 20 points followed by Alix Perkins' 12, Sarah Green and Cristy Nitz with 10 points each.

Northeastern State outscored the Bearcats inside the paint 22-10.

Southwest Baptist was 24-of-56 from the field for 42 percent and just 8-of-28 on 3-point shots for 28 percent. The Bearcats were 16-of-21 at the free throw line. Courtney Heady led the Bearcats with 18 points and Ashleigh Gallo adding 14.

The RiverHawks held a 30-28 lead at the intermission before increasing its second half lead to 12 points, 61-49, its largest of the game on a shot by Webb inside the paint.

However, Southwest Baptist began cutting into the RiverHawks lead behind Heady and Gallo, moving to within four points 59-61 with 1:57 remaining on back-to-back treys by Gallio and Mia Gilreath.

Northeastern State then grabbed an 8-point margin on four straight free throws by Jessica White for a 67-59 lead with 53 seconds remaining.

"We hit some clutch free throws late in the game and Jessica (White) hit four in a row and that was big for us. And, Alix (Perkins) hit a couple late for us," said Gipson.

The Bearcats' Heady sank a trey with 40 seconds left before the RiverHawks responded with two free throws by White making it a 69-62 lead with 27 seconds left on the clock.

Southwest Baptist's Gallio hit a jumper slicing Northeastern State leads to five 69-64 before Perkins converted two more free throws with 9-seconds left to put the game out of reach 71-64. The Bearcats' Heady then hit a meaningless trey at the buzzer for the final count.