by T. JOSEPH, Mo. – Cenia Hayes (Cherokee) recorded her sixth 20-point game of the season on Monday night, but it wasn’t enough as Northwestern fell 86-63 on the road to Missouri Western.
Shae Sanchez had 10 points for NSU while Tree Brooks finished with eight. Hayes led the RiverHawks with eight rebounds and recorded two steals.
After falling behind in the first, the RiverHawks outscored the Griffons 11-5 in the second, including a stretch of 3:09 where NSU went on a 10-2 run. Brooks scored five of the 10 points, including a jumper off a pass from Britney Ho. Maddie Morrow punctuated the run with a three-pointer that cut the lead to 28-15.
Trailing 48-26 in the third quarter, the RiverHawks opened up a 6-0 run when Sanchez hit a jumper in the paint. The run included Hayes driving to the hoop, hitting a layup and drawing the and-one. Hayes would also hit a trey two minutes later to make it a 54-33 Griffons advantage.
The RiverHawks outscored the Griffons 26-20 in the fourth and ended the game on a 9-0 run that saw NSU hit four layups, with Britney Ho scoring four points during the span. They shot 53.3% from the field during the final period, including making three from behind the arc.
As a team, the RiverHawks shot 36.2% (21-58) from the field and were out-rebounded by three with 37 as a team.
The RiverHawks fall to 4-8 on the season, with a record of 2-3 in MIAA games. The Griffons are now 11-2 on the season and 3-1 in conference action.
