No. 17 Gorillas throttle Northwest women

Overwhelmed at both ends of the floor, Northwest Missouri State concluded its Southern Swing through the MIAA with a 76-47 loss to No. 17 Pittsburg State Saturday in a nationally televised game at John Lance Arena.

Pitt led by double-digits throughout the second half and closed the game on a 14-0 run to hand Northwest its largest margin of defeat this season, trumping a nine-point loss to Missouri Southern two days prior.

The Bearcats also scored the fewest amount of points and gave up more than they had in any game all season.

Northwest fell to 8-4 overall and 2-2 in the MIAA. Defending South Central Region champion Pittsburg State improved to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in the MIAA.

The Gorillas shot 45.3 percent from the field, made 10-20 three-pointers and out-rebounded Northwest 46-30.

Pitt State's 6-6 center Lauren Brown hauled in a school-record 22 rebounds on her own. She also had eight points.

Alexa Bordewick hit four three-pointers and led all scorers with 20 points. Lizzy Jeronimus, last year's MIAA Freshman of the Year, scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists. Drew Roberts added 10 points and five assists.

Northwest shot just 17-53 (32.1 percent) from the field, 2-13 (15.4 percent) from three and 61 percent from the foul line.

Freshman Tember Schechinger was one of the few bright spots, finishing with a team-high 13 points on 5-9 shooting and three steals. Sophomore Maggie Marnin just missed her second double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

Monique Stevens added seven points and Alexis Boeh scored six off the bench.

Northwest led only once in the game at 2-1.

The Gorillas built a nine-point lead within the first five minutes. It grew to as many as 15 in the first half on a three by Bordewick with 2:55 left.

Northwest scored the next six points to get within nine, but a three by Lisa Elmer with one second left in the half gave the Gorillas a 39-27 halftime lead.

Pitt opened the second half on a 7-0 run to lead by 19 with 16:50 left. Northwest kept the margin between 15-19 points before the Gorillas scored the game's final 14 points over the last 5:48.

The Bearcats shot only 29 percent in the second half and were outscored 37-20.

Northwest plays at Missouri Western Saturday at 1:30 p.m.