Box Score | Season Statistics
Northwest Missouri State University 69 (23-4 overall)
Truman State University (Mo.) 62 (12-15 overall)
First round of the MIAA Women's Basketball Postseason Tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The reigning MIAA most valuable player, Gabby Curtis, picked up a key steal and scored eight of her final 14 points in the final two minutes to hold an upset-minded Truman Bulldogs in the opening round of the conference postseason tournament. Top seeded Northwest Missouri defeated the Bulldogs 69-62 at Municipal Auditorium.
With the Bearcats clinging to a two-point lead, Curtis picked off a Bulldog pass with 3:04 left and raced down the court for the fastbreak bucket that swung the momentum in favor of Northwest.
The Bearcats would score the next four to go up by eight and then finished it off at the foul line to
advance to the second round of the tournament.
Truman, making their first trip to the postseason tournament under Coach Michael Smith, came out struggling as the Bearcats jumped on the Bulldogs for the first 11 points but the team rallied back and finished the first half down by just two at 33-31
The 'Dogs then took two leads early in the second half and played nip and tuck basketball with the top-seeded Bearcats until Curtis' crushing steal late in regulation.
“Our kids laid their hearts out on the court this afternoon,” said an emotional Smith to Brad Boyer on the KRES postgame show. “We fought back with hard effort and showed we were not intimidated against the league's regular season champion. We've come along way as a program in a short time and I'm proud of the overall effort we showed.”
Amy Galey (Excelsior Springs, Mo., Excelsior Springs), playing in her final game as a Bulldog, notched 10 assists for the second time this season to finish with 241 in two years to rank 10th all-time in Truman history.
Breanna Daniels (Ridgedale, Mo., Hollister) led Truman with 13 points while Jennifer Conway (Waterloo, Ill., Waterloo) added 10 with nine rebounds.
Gentry Dietz paced Northwest with 18 points while Kyla Roehrig scored 12 had 14 rebounds and blocked nine Bulldog shots.
Truman (12-15) will lose three seniors (Galey, Malorie Kiecker (Watertown, Wis., Luther Prep) and Cassie Hunt (Richmond, Mo., Richmond)) but will return the bulk of their scoring and experience next season.
Northwest (23-4) will play the winner of the Missouri Southern/Pittsburg State game on Saturday night in the conference semifinals at 6:00 p.m.
