RiverHawks Rout Cameron

LAWTON,  Okla. --- Northeastern State overcame a sluggish first half and warmed up in the final 20 minutes to roll to a convincing 73-49 Lone Star Conference North Division win Wednesday night over Cameron University at the Aggies Gym.

The RiverHawks improved to 12-4 and 1-0 in LSC North Division play with the victory while Cameron fell to 4-10 and 0-1.

Northeastern State had four players score in double figures with freshman Taylor Lewis scoring a career high 13 points.  Kendra Dean had her best scoring performance of the year with 12 points, followed by Megan Fraley and Cristy Nix with 11 points each.

For Lewis it was a breakout game, who admitted she had been struggling with her shooting until Wednesday night's clash with Cameron.

"I have been struggling with my shot, but I've been working on it real hard," said Lewis. "It felt good this game. I am starting to get into the flow of things now. The adjustment was kind of hard at first but now its starting to get easier.

"This win feels really good to get it on the road and gives us a big boost to keep winning and win our division,"said Lewis.

RiverHawks head coach Randy Gipson couldn't agree more as he was please with the overall play of the squad, particularly in the final 30 minutes.

"I thought as a team we were tentative in the first half for a while but I think our depth paid off and help us to eventually raise the intensity," said Gipson. "The last 30 minutes we played hard like we like to play and our team defense was pretty good. Our reboundng in the second half was good."

Gipson was plaesed with the play of Taylor Lewis, "who hit some big shots for us, and Kendra Dean really had a solid game. I thought she really worked hard defended, and got to the free throw line and hit her free throws." 

After shooting just 27 percent in the first half, the RiverHawks warmed up in the second half for a 48 percent shooting performance in the second  half (12-of-25). But it was at the free throw line that the RiverHawks were deadly draining 24-of-31 from the stripe.

"We hit our free throws which was important," said Gipson. "Our whole game in the second half was pretty good. We turned the ball over a little more than we liked, but our defensive intensity was good in the second half.

"This win was big for us to get a win on the road to start division play. Cameron came at us hard," said Gipson.

Ahead 26-23 lead at the intermission, Northeastern State quickly put the game away in the second half with a 10-2 run, taking a 36-24 lead with 14:54 left. The RiverHawks then stretched its lead to their largest margin of the contest 31 points with 4:13 remaining 71-40 when Fraley drained a 12 foot jumper from the left wing.

The Aggies shot only 38 percent (13-of-46) against the RiverHawks defense, ranked No. 16 in the nation and No. 2 in the LSC.   Cameron's Lyndie Neville and Josie  Stewart led the Cameron scoring with 11 points each.

Trailing by as many as seven points in the opening 20 minutes, Northeastern State did not get its first lead of the game until the final 36 seconds.

Northeastern State's Nitz hit a baseline jumper to give the RiverHawks a 24-23 lead and following two missed point blank shots by the Aggies, Northeastern State grabbed the rebound and worked the clock to the three-second mark where Lewis scored inside the paint giving the RiverHawks a 26-23 lead.

The first half was mark by sloppy play and poor shooting  as the RiverHawks shot only 29 percent in the half (8-of-27) and a miserable 2-of-11 from behind the arc against Cameron's zone defenses.  The team also committed eight turnovers in the half.

Cameron also had it shooting problems in the half shooting just 29 percent (7-of-24) and 1-of-8 on 3-point attempts. The Aggies were force into 9 turnovers by the RiverHawks defense.

The Aggies held a 7-point lead with 12:40 remaining in the half, holding a 12-5 advantage before the RiverHawks slowly got back into the game. The RiverHawks cut the 7-point lead to a two-points Cameron lead 12-10 at the 10:19 mark on a basket by Jasmine Webb.

Cameron up its lead to  four points on a basket by Tremayne making it 14-10 with 9:55 left.

That's when both clubs went into a scoring drought as neither team scored for nine straight possessions. Northeastern State broke the drought when Jessica White drained a 3-point shot from the right wing, cutting the Aggies margin to a single point 14-13 with 64 remaining.

The RiverHawks tied the contest at 20-all with 2:15 remaining in the first half on a pair of free throws by Cristy Nitz.

Northeastern State will continue LSC North action by hosting Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Dobbins Field House. The Lady Bulldogs earned their first win of the season on Wednesday by upending Texas A&M-Commerce in conference play.