by TAHLEQUAH — Cielo McClain recorded her second career double-double on Thursday night as the RiverHawks beat the Lincoln Blue Tigers 67-47.
Cenia Hayes (Cherokee) led all scorers with 22 points. McClain finished with 16 points and ten rebounds. Shae Sanchez had 12 points off the bench for the RiverHawks.
“I thought we took care of business at home, our second half was one of the best that we’ve had,” head coach Fala Bullock said. “We had contributions from a lot of different people tonight, and I think Cenia and Cielo hit some big-time shots, I thought our offense got in the flow in the second half and we got a little more determined to get stops and slow them up.”
Northeastern State came out of the gate on fire, opening the game on a 12-2 run. Hayes got the scoring started quickly, drilling a three just 18 seconds into the game. She would hit a pair of free throws on the next possession to put the RiverHawks up 5-0. Hayes would hit a jumper at the 7:55 mark and draw the foul. After hitting the free throw, the Blue Tigers scored, but McClain hit a jumper off a pass from Morgan Lee to make it a 12-0 RiverHawks lead.
Lincoln would end the quarter on an 11-6 run to cut the NSU lead to three at the break. Both teams started the second quarter cold, as combined, they missed the first six shots. The RiverHawks broke the logjam when McClain hit a jumper to push the lead to five.
Sanchez added a jumper 30 seconds later to give NSU a 20-13 lead. After Lincoln hit a three, Sanchez went to the free-throw line and hit a pair. Neither team would hit a bucket until the 2:50 mark when Lincoln hit a layup. Hayes responded with a short jumper to give NSU the four-point lead. The Blue Tigers got the lead down to two with 1:30 left, but McClain hit a jumper with 28 seconds left to send NSU into the locker room with a four-point lead.
Coming out of the locker room, the teams traded buckets, as McClain hit a layup, and Tree Brooks fed Britney Ho, who hit a short jumper. Lincoln responded immediately after both baskets to keep it a four-point game. The teams continued to trade baskets until the 5:02 mark when McClain hit a jumper to kick off a 9-2 run that boosted the NSU lead to 45-35. After Lincoln hit a jumper with one minute remaining, Hayes beat the buzzer with a medium-range jumper to give the RiverHawks a 47-37 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the RiverHawks scored the first five points, with Sanchez hitting three free throws and Maegan Lee hitting a jumper. After a Lincoln layup, Hayes hit a pair of free throws, then recorded a steal that led to a McClain jumper. NSU would end up outscoring Lincoln 20-10 in the quarter while forcing six turnovers.
