Box Score

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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team fell 80-77 in overtime to Missouri Southern State Saturday afternoon inside the NSU Event Center.
 
The RiverHawks (6-7, 3-3 MIAA) have toggled between wins and losses for six-straight games now, while the Lions (10-3, 4-2 MIAA) have also went back and forth for five games.
 
Freshman forward Che'Ron Lewis led NSU with 15 points. Junior guard Sarah Sagely added 13 and fellow junior guard Chelsey Beathard contributed 11. Senior forward Carrington Fox and sophomore guard Kate Bellamy scored nine each.
 
The RiverHawks shot 52 percent (25-for-48) from the field but only hit 33 percent (6-for-18) from three-point range and 68 percent (21-for-31) at the free-throw line. MSSU connected on 48 percent (27-for-56) from the field, 38 percent (6-for-16) from downtown and 91 percent (20-for-22) at the line.
 
Shonte Clay led the Lions with 20 points, with Sharese Jones adding 15. Dominique Mosley scored 14, Alexis Fitzpatrick had 11 and Shawnee Phillips contributed 10.
 
NSU led by as much as 11 in the first half, taking a 25-14 advantage with 7:27 to play in the opening stanza, but Missouri Southern was able to cut the deficit to just three (32-29) by halftime.
 
The Lions came storming out of the locker room and forced six NSU turnovers in the opening minutes. The visitors used a 17-6 run to pull ahead by 54-44 at the 11:57 mark.
 
The RiverHawks went on a 12-0 run that was capped by a Sagely three at 6:17 to allow the home team to regain the lead, but MSSU would again pull ahead and find a 66-61 lead with 3:35 to play.
 
NSU used a 9-2 run to lead 70-68 with 34 seconds left, but a Clay layup with 16 seconds left tied the game and a missed three from Beathard sent the contest in overtime.
 
Northeastern State ran out of gas in the extra session as the Lions jumped out a six-point lead before settling for the three-point triumph.


Northeastern State will next head out on the road for a makeup game in Maryville, Mo. NSU will meet Northwest Missouri State at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13.
 
Scoring Summary
Missouri Southern State      29        41        10         80
Northeastern State              32        38        7           77

Northeastern State Coach Randy Gipson
Opening Statement…
"Our kids fought and gave a good effort against a good team. We had some trouble guarding their size, but we did a little better down the stretch. It was a game that could have gone either way and we needed to win at the end of regulation. We had a chance there, but we couldn't score on that last possession. We had what we wanted but we couldn't hang onto the ball or make the shot. We have a lot of people that haven't been in this situation many times."
 
On being outrebounded…
"We were outrebounded 24-10 in the first half, but we did a little bit better in the second half. It didn't show on the amount of points, but I thought we played harder on defense in the second half. We may have been too tentative early on. We made some shots and got ahead but I don't think we got any control in the game because we didn't establish our intensity early on."
 
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