Northwest Missouri State hosts Newman in weekend MIAA action
By Calvin Silvers
It was the first Saturday spent in Bearcat Arena since Dec. 30, 2023, for the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats, and a crowd of over a 1,000 fans were in attendance to see some MIAA action against the Newman Jets.
The women (13-4, 7-4 MIAA) took the court first, and were able to get over a two-game losing streak and pick up its 13th win of the season in a 79-49 victory over Newman (2-16, 1-11 MIAA).
“The thing we told him in the locker room, the biggest thing was we felt like we played with a lot of energy,” head coach Austin Meyer said. “We played with enthusiasm. I felt like everybody was into the game… we had 13 people all to fit in today and it showed, you know, we didn’t shoot the ball very well, but we still competed and played hard and did some good things.”
Despite not shooting as well as the Bearcats would’ve liked, they began the game on a 14-3 scoring run, mostly due to junior Guard Caely Kesten dropping seven early points. The defense kept its ground, and Northwest ended the first quarter with a 23-8 lead.
“Good focus on our team is just to bring positive energy, sophomore guard Lindsey Kelderman said. “Everyone on the team adds value and so just everyone brings that and I feel like that’s helped us a ton and I feel like everyone could see and feel that today.”
That energy would be needed when Newman cut the lead down to eight in the second quarter, but junior guard Molly Hartnett, like in other occasions, helped the momentum swing back to the Bearcats. When it was all said and done, she scored 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
“I thought we were pretty good defensively to start. We let up a little bit, but we really struggled to score,” Meyer said. “We just kind of got Molly the ball and cleared out and she did a good job going to work.”
Northwest came out of the locker room on a mission, going on a 12-4 run and outscored Newman 15-11 in the third quarter. Northwest finished the game on a 27-7 run.
The No. 24-ranked Northwest men (13-4, 9-2 MIAA) had a near identical flow to their game as the women, as they used a second half effort against Newman (6-11, 3-9 MIAA) for a 76-47 home win.
It was almost like a 3-point contest for Northwest to begin the contest, as they came out firing by hitting on five of its first six three-point attempts. The abundance of these shots propelled Northwest to a 18-4 lead five minutes into the half.
It would become slightly scary, as the Jets were able to bring the Bearcat lead back down to single digits at eight, before Northwest went into halftime with a 33-24 lead.
“I think the worst thing that happened was our start, you know, and I thought that we thought that it was then going to be easy and it’s just not,” head coach Ben McCollum said. “You have to execute.. we stopped executing, gave them some life and they played hard.”
The halftime speech would be enough to awaken the Bearcats for the second half, more specifically Wes Dreamer, as Northwest used a 27-1 run and held Newman to no made field goals over an 11-minute span in the second half.
Dreamer, after being held to four points in the first half, went 8-of-11 in second-half shots and was perfect from beyond the arc in three attempts. Dreamer accounted for 21 second-half points.
“I mean, it’s just all the work I’ve put in and just staying patient. I’m not a guy that really cares too much about points, so it’s just something that’s coming naturally,” Dreamer said. “My guys, they know how to get me the ball… now at this point, it’s kind of more on my shoulders, so yeah, it’s taken a little bit more responsibility, but it’s nothing crazy. It’s just how the game goes.”
Northwest recorded its seventh straight home win and lead the MIAA standings at 9-2 with a one game lead over Missouri Western, Fort Hays State and Washburn.
