RiverHawks Rout East Central
ADA, Okla. - Northeastern State opened the second half with a 25-7 run to dismantle East Central University 90-69 for a Lone Star Conference North Division victory Saturday afternoon at the Kerr Activity Center.
Northeastern State has now won five in a row and remains unbeaten in LSC North play at 4-0 and 15-4 overall. East Central falls to 9-8 and 1-3 in division play.
The 90 points was the RiverHawks highest point total of the season, eclipsing the previous high of 80 established against Eastern New Mexico on January 9th.
Four RiverHawks scored in double figures led by Alix Perkins' 20 points, a season best topping her 17 against Gannon University in the season opener. Jasemine Webb finished with 17 points with Jessica White scoring 14 to tie her season high which came against Angelo State and Kendra Dean adding 11.
NSU shot 50 percent for the game (37-of-74) and 12-of-30 on 3-point attempts. Northeastern State held the Tigers to just 35 percent from the field (19-fo-53) and 11-29 on 3- point attempts. Krista Bullis led the Tigers scoring with 19 points and Danielle Cox and Regan Browne followed with 15 points each.
The RiverHawks dominated the game on the boards, outrebounding the Tigers 49-27 led by Dean who pulled down a career and season best 17 boards to go along with her 11points to get her first double-double of the season.
The RiverHawks trailed 36-35 at the intermission, before streaking to a 48-36 lead with 15:45 left in the game, before Northeastern State drained four consecutive treys to put the game out of reach 60-43 with 12:35 left.
The RiverHawks held a 23-point lead twice in the final half, largest lead for the RiverHawks 78-55 at 4:50 on the clock and 90-67 with 40 seconds left. to play.
The RiverHawks trailed 36-35 at the intermission as Northeastern State held the lead only one time in the opening 20 minutes of play.
Trailing by as many as eight points, the RiverHawks tied the game at 30 all on a layup by Sarah Green with 3:06 remaining. After each team failed to score on their next two possessions, Perkins drained a 3-point shot from the top of the key to give the RiverHawks their first lead 33-30 with 2:01 remaining in the half.
However, the lead was short lived at theTigers' Casi Rawls connected on a trey from the right wing to knot the contest with 1:40 left. Just 14 seconds later Kendra Dean put the RiverHawks back on top with a short jumper 35-33 before the Tigers regained the lead on a trey by Browne, her third of the half, for a 36-35 East Central lead at the intermission.
The RiverHawks shot 45 percent in the opening half (15-of-33), but were only 3-of-12 from behind the arc, with Perkins leading the way with 10 points. Dean came off the bench for six points, and 12 rebounds, four on offensive boards.
The Tigers shot 44 percent from the floor 12-of-27 and 6-of-15 from 3-point range with Cox fueling East Central's first half attack with 13 points. NSU held a 22-15 advantage on the boards and 6-0 on offensive rebounds.
The RiverHawks will battle Texas Woman's University on Wednesday night at Jack Dobbins Field House in a LSC North Division game, which could decide sole possession of the LSC North lead.. Tip-off is 7 p.m.
