RiverHawks Have "Wright" Stuff Against Texas A&M-Kingsville

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. -Northeastern State had the ‘ Wright" stuff Thursday in the quarterfinal round of the Lone Star Conference Women's Tournament as Jasmine Wright scored a career high 22 points in leading the RiverHawks past Texas A&M-Kingsville 85-76 Thursday at Bartlesville High School's Bruin Field House.

Wright, who came off the bench, drained 7-of-10 of from the field, including 2-of-4 from behind the arc and 6-of-7 at the free throw line. Wright was joined in the double digit scoring by four teammates. Kendra Dean scored 15 points followed by Jasmine Webb's 12, Jessica White's 11 and Cristy Nitz's 10 .

"I was just really hyped," said Wright concerning her point production. "Last year the girls got to go first and we watched the boys and cheered them on. This made us play harder watching them win. I was just really focused, hyped and ready. And my team was there to back me up," said Wright.

Nitz, who also came off the bench to score her 10 points, sinking 5-of-6 from the field said," I felt pretty good and our whole team was ready to play. I was just focused."

The win ties a school record 25 as Northeastern State improves to 25-4 heading into Saturday's semifinal clash with Tarleton State. Tarleton advanced by defeating Texas Woman's University 71-66. Northeastern State and Tarleton State (23-5) will play at noon on Saturday.

"You talk about one of those deals where it's survive and advance," said Northeastern State head coach Randy Gipson. "We are real pleased to move on to the next round and to get by a team that played as well as they did today.

"I knew this would be a really tough game to play with all the seniors they had, would be ready to play and they were. We were never able to keep their offense in check, but fortunately we had a good game on offense. It carried us through."

The RiverHawks never trailed in the game, leading by as many as 10 points in the second half, but the Javelinas would not quit as they battled back to within two points in the final three minutes of play.

"Resilience has been a trait of our team all year" said Gipson. "We've had a number of come from behind wins all year. I think it's a credit to the character of our people. The way Kingsville hung in there, I've coached a lot of teams that would have folded at some point with a team coming at you and not giving up. "

NSU held a 36-32 lead at the half as the two clubs exchanged the lead three times and were tied once in the opening 20 minutes before the RiverHawks grabbed a 31-28 lead on a Wright basket with 2:50 remaininng in the half. The Javelinas cut the margin to a point before Wright made it 34-30 on a pair of free throws.

Kingsville's Rochelle Ikeni scored on a 10-foot jumper pulling the Javelina's to within a bucket, before White went to the line draining two free throws for a 36-32 NSU lead at the half.

Northeastern State led by eight points 54-46 with 10:47 left when Dean scored and was fouled by Victoria Gonzalez and drained the free throw. The 8-point RiverHawks lead soon vanished to just four points 50-54 at the 9:40 mark.

Then Dean was involved in a rare four-point play. Dean drained a 3-point shot from the right wing and was fouled by the Javelinas' Reagan Sutton giving NSU a 58-50 advantage with 8:30 left as Dean drained the foul shot to complete the 4-point play. That was the springboard for the RiverHawks the remainder of the contest.

Kingsville fought back to within three points 77-74 with 1:54 remaining behind Kaylor Naylor, who led the Javelinas' scoring with 19 points. Nitz scored on a layup on a pass from Megan Fraley for a 5-point NSU advantage.

The RiverHawks increased its lead to the final 9-point advantage, outscoring the Javelinas' 6-2 in the final 1:39

Both clubs shot 52 percent from the field ;for the game, Northeastern (30-of-57) and Kingsville (28-53), however, the RiverHawks shot a blistering 62 percent in the second half (16-of-26), while the Javelins were just as shot connecting on 16-of-28 for 57 percent. Both clubs sank 9 three point shots in the game.

Following Naylor in the Kingsville scoring was Angela Franklin with 14, with Felicia Soza scoring 13 and Dyana Bullinger 10.

"I thought we played the way we are capable of, but Northeastern is a great team," said Javelinas head coach Scott Hyland. "They are a wonderful team, very balanced. They have some playmakers.

"It was a heck of a game. It took a great team playing great to beat us," said Hyland.