By RYAN SHUMAKER, Student Reporter
The resurgence of the Women’s Basketball team continued Saturday afternoon with their second straight conference win.
The Rangers took down Arkansas-Monticello by a final score of 69-55 to remain undefeated inside the confines of Percefull Fieldhouse. Junior Kalea King continued her outstanding stretch of basketball, outdoing all of the rest of her early season performances by dropping a season high 27 points to lead all scorers. Transfer Kori Barrios provided 15 points as well, including a 2-4 performance from behind the three-point line.
The Rangers defense held Arkansas-Monticello to just 31.9 percent shooting for the game. The Rangers also out rebounded a team for the first time all year, grabbing 50 boards compared to the Blossoms 38. The game was close all the way to the end, until a 46 percent from the floor shooting percentage in the fourth quarter propelled Northwestern to victory.
Northwestern found themselves down 9-2 early in the game after nine straight Blossom points. Both teams struggled throughout the first half to gain an offensive rhythm, but the best run of points for either team came from the Rangers midway through the opening quarter, where two three’s from Barrios and Mckenzie Billy engineered a 13-4 run in favor of the Rangers. The stretch of points gave the Rangers their first lead of the ball game. A very physical first quarter of play continued as the Blossoms used their team length to go on an 8-0 run at the end of the quarter.
Both teams struggled to find the bottom of the basket in the first five minutes of the second quarter. The scoring 9169draught was finally broken by the Blossoms in the form of a deep three. An 11-6 run in the second half of the quarter gave the Blossoms their largest lead of the ball game at 32-21. Two free throws and a nice lay-up from Deja Beechum, followed by a three point shot right at the half-time buzzer narrowed the Ranger deficit to just 32-28 going into the locker room.
Northwestern shot just 32.3 percent from the field in the first half, but relied on their high-pressure defense to hold Monticello to just 23.5 percent shooting in the second quarter to get themselves back into the ball game. King and Barrios led the Rangers in scoring during the opening half with 10 and six points respectively.
Coming out of the break, both teams traded points back and forth before two free throws from King finally tied the ball game up at 35-35. The Blossoms quickly answered with a three-point shot, but King once again answered with a tough drive down the lane and drew hard contact to get the foul call and capitalized on the free throw for a three-point play. Northwestern finally regained the lead after an Ashley Pride lay-up brought the score to 40-38 with 5:16 left in the third quarter. The teams continued to trade blows in a back and forth contest with neither team able to pull ahead by more than two points. A huge shift in momentum came on a Ranger offensive possession with less than thirty seconds left in the quarter in which Cell and King both battled tough on the glass to pull down back-to-back offensive rebounds. King grabbed the second rebound and drew a foul that generated a buzz throughout Percefull Fieldhouse. She connected on both free-throws to give the Rangers a 44-42 lead that would be evened up with a Blossom jumper at the buzzer. The dead-even contest entered the final quarter of action tied 44-44.
The Rangers were finally able to generate an extended lead thanks to a 6-0 run that gave them a 52-47 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the game. Two straight tough offensive possessions without a basket were salvaged thanks once again to a stout performance on the defensive side of the ball by the Rangers. That stout defense allowed just one Monticello basket during the brief spell of offensive struggle which was turned around when Pride drew a foul on a fast break and sank both free throws. Those free throws gave the Rangers a 54-49 lead with 5:08 left in the game. The lead was extended by leading-scorer King, who stole the ball at the top of the key and had a wide open lay-up at the other end of the court to give the Rangers their largest lead of the game at 56-49 with 4:57 remaining. The Rangers held onto that lead and looked as if they were going to but the Blossoms away, but a questionable jump-ball call under the Rangers goal gave the Blossoms a chance to narrow the lead. Northwestern’s defense came through once again and got a crucial stop with 1:45 left in the game. Two free throws from Barrios moved the game out of reach for Monticello and the Rangers cruised in the final minute of the game to a 69-55 victory.
Coach Tasha Diesselhorst’s team will look to build on their current three game winning streak on Dec. 10 in Percefull Fieldhouse against Oklahoma Christian at 6 p.m.