RiverHawks Advance to LSC Finals
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. - March Madness continues for Northeastern State.
The RiverHawks advanced to the Lone Star Conference Tournament women's championship on Sunday after rolling past Tarleton State Saturday 74-62 for their 10th consecutive victory with outstanding 3-point shooting, defense and deadly free throw shooting.
Northeastern State returns to Sunday's championship game at 1 p.m. for the first time since 2003 when the RiverHawks took the title 82-68 over West Texas A&M in Tahlequah.
The 2010 championship clash at the Bruin Field House on the Bartlesville High School campus will feature the top seeds from the Lone Star Conference.
Northeastern State from the North Division and West Texas A&M, the No. 1 seed in the South Division. The Lady Buffs (28-3) defeated Central Oklahoma 83-70 in the other semifinal matchup.
"We are real pleased with our performance today," said Northeastern State head coach Randy Gipson. "Tarleton is a real physical team and when we played them down there we thought they got the best of us with their post pressure. (Northeastern lost 56-42 at Stephenville, Texas)
"We made a point for our people to stay in the post and be ready to deal with that. I thought it was physical right from the start. I thought we did a good job of battling for position and working hard to get some screens set," said Gipson.
"I really don't know what to say because you don't plan on making a statement after you lose, said Tarleton State head coach Ronnie Hearne. "You're thinking about winning the game and going on to the next one. I told the team that they out-coached us and they out-played us. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
"They're hard to guard (Northeastern State), and they're a physical and smart basketball team. They took us out of what we like to do. Give Northeastern all the credit," said Hearne.
Jasmine Webb recorded her 6th double-double, scoring a game-high 21 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Jessica White and Megan Fraley scored 15 points each as the RiverHawks shot 45 percent (21-of-46) including 8-of-17 from behind the arc for 47 percent. At the free throw line the RiverHawks connected on 24-of-30 attempts.
Fraley was deadly from 3-point range as she drained 4-of-8 attempts and finished 5-of-10 from the field. While White scored 15 points, she was instrumental on defense along with Kendra Dean and Jasmine Wright. The trio combined for 10 steals, four by Dean and three each by White and Wright. The RiverHawks totaled 14 steals in the game.
"We've had great post play all season and whoever is in the post do a great job of kicking the ball outside to get the shots" said White. "It all comes down to being a team and making that extra pass. That's why our team is doing so well. We are centered around the team, whoever gets it inside and if they don't have the shot, they kick it out and then others are ready for the shot," said White.
White said she was looking forward to the rematch Saturday with Tarleton.
"When we went down to Tarleton, Tarleton played great," said White. "They took it to us. It was back and forth game. In the last 10 minutes our wheels kind ‘a fell off. We wanted to show them everything we had. The first time we didn't show them everything we had. It was a good opportunity and we were excited about it."
NSU held the TexAnns to 30 percent from the field (18-of-59) and just 4-of-21 from 3-point range. JoAnne Jones and Brittnie Haley led the Tarleton scoring with 12 points each.
The RiverHawks held a 9-point lead at the half 39-30 as they shot 52 percent from the field with Webb leading the way with 12 points.
NSU increased its margin to 11 points when White was fouled by Jones on a 3-point attempt and she drained all three foul shots for a 47-35 advantage 17:02 remaining. Dean pushed the lead to 12 with a free throw. Wright then made a steal and drove the length of the floor for a 50-36 NSU advantage at the 16:12 mark.
Tarleton's Tori Skarke hit a 3-pointer and Fraley pushed the RiverHawks margin back to 13 a 52-39 NSU lead with 15:36 left. That's when the lid went over the basket for both clubs.
The RiverHawks did not score for six minutes and the TexAnns managed just six points as the NSU clung to a 7-point advantage 52-45; with 9:27 left.
Northeastern State finally ended its scoring drought when Fraley drained a 3-pointer at 8:55 for a 10-point lead with 8:55 left.
"I think we got a little winded and there was a lull there," said Gipson."I think both teams got tired during that stretch. Even though we weren't scoring they weren't cutting into the lead a lot. I thought our defensive positioning stayed solid and our defensive rebounding was pretty good during that stretch too.
"I thought if we could weather that we could get back on the right track," said Gipson.
However, the RiverHawks hits another scoring drought for three minutes as the TexAnns managed only a 3-pointer by Morgan Stehling moving to with five points of NSU 55-50 with7:38 left. It was the closet Tarleton came the rest of the game as NSU turned up its defensive pressure resulting in points.
"Jessica hit a three and free throws to give us a little bit of a breathing room and got us going again,' said Gipson.
White started the late game surge with a 3-pointer to end the scoring drought at 5:04 and an 8-point NSU advantage 58-50. Following a Tarleton basket by Jones, White scored on a layup and was fouled on the play. White converted at the stripe for a 61-52 lead with 4:01 remaining.
Dean followed a missed shot by Webb with a put back making it 63-52 at the 2:58 mark for an 11-point RiverHawk advantage.
Tarleton State could never overcome the RiverHawks's late surge.
