Nitz Blitz Pops ACU
ABILENE, Texas - Northeastern State rallied from a 15-point first half deficit to defeat Abilene Christian 66-59 Monday afternoon at Moody Coliseum in a Lone Star Conference crossover game.
Sophomore Cristy Nitz led the comeback in the second half scoring a career high 21 points in leading the RiverHawks past the Wildcats. Jessica White and Megan Fraley also scored in double figures scoring 12 and 10 points respectively.
"Cristy was just great," said Northeastern State head coach Randy Gipson. "She wanted the ball, played hard and did a great job defensively."
The victory improves the RiverHawks record to 10-3 heading into the second semester. Abilene Christian is now 8-4.
"This win is one that you will always remember," said Gipson. "The way we won it was incredible. We were getting beat pretty badly in the first half. We hung in there and fought back. Their post play was just great. The Meyers (Jody and Jamie) were just phenomenal in the post the first half.
"We had no answer and nothing seemed to work. We adjusted at half time and our kids fought hard. We started making shots," said Gipson.
Trailing by 15 points, 22-7 with 8:30 remaining in the first half of play, Northeastern State battled back to within eight points at the intermission 35-27.
Abilene's front line sister combination of Jamie Moyer and Jody Meyer scored 12 and 15 points respectively in the first half. Jamie Moyer, the Wildcats leading scorer with a 21.6 average was held to 8 second half points to finish with 20 points and Jody Meyer, managed only 3 second half points to finish with 18.
The Wildcats increased its lead to 14 points 41-27 five minutes into the second half. That's when the RiverHawks turned up the defensive pressure. Northeastern State went on a 14-2 run to cut the Wildcats lead to two points 43-41 with 10:53 remaining in the game.
During the RiverHawks surge, Nitz scored six of the 14 points, with Alix Perkins' 3-pointer moving NSU to within two points.
Abilene then increased its lead to seven points 8 points for a 53-45 lead with 6:14 left as the RiverHawks managed to score only two points in a three-minute span. Northeastern then held the Wildcats scoreless over the next three minutes and closed to within three points, 53-50 with 4:38 left.
Nitz drained a 3-point shot to tie the game at 53-all with 4;06 left and the RiverHawks took its first lead of the game since the opening basket by Perkins, when Nitz sank a 3-point shot giving the RiverHawks a 56-53 lead with 2:58 remaining in the game.
It's a lead Northeastern State would never relinquished as the RiverHawks surged to a seven-point lead at the buzzer. NSU outscored the Wildcats 10-5 over the final 2:36 of the game.
Northeastern State drained 8-of-8 free throws in the final 2:36 to secure the victory with White sinking four, Nitz two and Megan Fraley two.
"We made some big free throws down the stretch that helped us maintain our lead," said Gipson.
The RiverHawks drained 18-of-21 shots at the free throw line and Abilene Christian 9-f-11. Abilene shot 53 percent from the field in the opening half, but NSU's defense held the Wildcats to 30 percent in the final 20 minutes for 42 percent (23-of-54), including 4-of-13 from behind the arc.
Northeastern State shot 39 percent for the game (21-of-53), 6-of-19 from 3-point range and was out rebounded by the much taller Wildcats, by just four 35-31.
Northeastern State will next play No.4 ranked West Texas A&M on Jan. 7 at Jack Dobbins Field House. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
