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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Southern State University led Northwest Missouri State University by 1 point early in the fourth quarter Friday afternoon inside Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City during their quarterfinal matchup in the MIAA Tournament.
Nariah Clay was 0 for 2 on 3-point attempts in the first half but made one in the third. She faked a jab step, looked at her defender and fired up a shot that was nothing but net to give the Lions a 53-49 lead with 6:40 left to go.
The Lions got a stop on defense and Clay attacked the paint on the next possession. Her layup attempt bounced off the rim and into teammate Lilly Thomas’ hands. Thomas put the ball back up and in to stretch the lead to 6 points. Northwest Missouri State didn’t get closer than 5 points the remainder of the game as MSSU advanced to Saturday’s semifinals with a 67-58 victory.
“That gave us a little cushion to where our defense can flow a little bit better and then offensively as well. We can be a little more patient. We didn’t feel like we had to rush, and I thought our kids did a good job with that,” MSSU head coach Ronnie Ressel said.
Northwest (18-12) struggled shooting the ball all game as it made 19 of 52 shots (36.5%) and had just nine made baskets in the first half. It shot 37.5% in the first half. Five 3-pointers in the second half helped it stay in the game.
“We did a good job recognizing and taking away. We fouled a little bit too much to my liking. We were riding them a little bit. Northwest has some kids that can shoot, we took their 3s away, and we didn’t allow too many second opportunities,” Ressel said.
Northwest pulled down seven offensive rebounds but managed only six second-chance points. MSSU won the rebounding battle 41-30 overall — a main focus of Ressel’s coming into this game as his team had lost the rebounding battle in many recent contests.
MSSU (20-9) was led offensively by Thomas and Clay as the duo tallied 38 points combined. Thomas notched 23 — a new career high for the true freshman from El Reno, Oklahoma. Clay had 15. Also in double figures was Makenna Yokley with 10.
Yokley provided her offensive spark in the third frame as she knocked down her only two 3-pointers of the game in back-to-back attempts, taking MSSU’s lead from 37-33 to 43-33. Right before those two shots, she had shot a corner 3-pointer long that sailed over the rim.
“We want her to shoot. She can shoot it. We have confidence in her, and she has confidence in herself. Really, her bread-and-butter 3 is that one at the top of the key. That corner one she doesn’t get a lot. It’s a little different angle, but anytime she gets something up top and she’s open, we want her shooting that,” Ressel said.
Later, Thomas tacked on two free throws, and the lead was up to 12 points.
Ressel added that his team did well with hustle plays to be able to win the game. One in particular came when Camryn Smith finished a layup and turned around and stole the ball on Northwest's inbound play. Her basket made it 57-50 in favor of the Lions. Her steal led to Grace Frazier being fouled and making 1 of 2 free throws to go up 8 points.
The Bearcats made a run after falling behind by double digits. That was with 4:24 left, but at the 2:32 mark, they had trimmed the lead, trailing 45-39. They trailed 50-42 entering the last quarter.
That’s when the big run came. Brooklyn Stanley converted a layup, Kirsten Hauck hit a 3-point basket and Sadie Maas added a layup to make it 50-49 after three minutes of action.
But Southern withstood that run and had a quick burst of its own with the Clay 3-pointer. Clay spoke about the opportunity to play in the tournament for the first time as a redshirt sophomore after watching it from the bench last year.
“It’s just really exciting. Last year, we won the first game and lost the second. On the sideline, you can’t do much, and now I’m out there the whole game, and I control a lot. It feels good to advance,” Clay said.
Clay played the entire game. She didn’t come out at any point during the 40 minutes of action.
“She’s a warrior playing all 40 in an intense game like that. We usually put her on the best guard as far as scoring, so she has to do everything for us,” Ressel said.
Thomas spoke about being able to advance as well.
"I think it means a lot. We did a lot of work for this, and we were prepared," Thomas said.
The Lions will meet No. 1 seed University of Central Missouri (24-5) at noon Saturday. MSSU was last in the semifinals in 2023 when it won the tournament. The Lions lost to the Jennies 73-64 last Wednesday in Warrensburg.
Ressel was asked how to prepare for the quick turnaround.
"They go to their bed and lay down the rest of the day until tomorrow when we go eat breakfast. No," Ressel said with a smile. "We just played Central, so that will be fresh in our minds. ... It will come down to who competes, rebounds the ball and gets things done on the defensive end. We have to get as much rest as we can and prepare mentally."
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Nariah Clay was 0 for 2 on 3-point attempts in the first half but made one in the third. She faked a jab step, looked at her defender and fired up a shot that was nothing but net to give the Lions a 53-49 lead with 6:40 left to go.
The Lions got a stop on defense and Clay attacked the paint on the next possession. Her layup attempt bounced off the rim and into teammate Lilly Thomas’ hands. Thomas put the ball back up and in to stretch the lead to 6 points. Northwest Missouri State didn’t get closer than 5 points the remainder of the game as MSSU advanced to Saturday’s semifinals with a 67-58 victory.
“That gave us a little cushion to where our defense can flow a little bit better and then offensively as well. We can be a little more patient. We didn’t feel like we had to rush, and I thought our kids did a good job with that,” MSSU head coach Ronnie Ressel said.
Northwest (18-12) struggled shooting the ball all game as it made 19 of 52 shots (36.5%) and had just nine made baskets in the first half. It shot 37.5% in the first half. Five 3-pointers in the second half helped it stay in the game.
“We did a good job recognizing and taking away. We fouled a little bit too much to my liking. We were riding them a little bit. Northwest has some kids that can shoot, we took their 3s away, and we didn’t allow too many second opportunities,” Ressel said.
Northwest pulled down seven offensive rebounds but managed only six second-chance points. MSSU won the rebounding battle 41-30 overall — a main focus of Ressel’s coming into this game as his team had lost the rebounding battle in many recent contests.
MSSU (20-9) was led offensively by Thomas and Clay as the duo tallied 38 points combined. Thomas notched 23 — a new career high for the true freshman from El Reno, Oklahoma. Clay had 15. Also in double figures was Makenna Yokley with 10.
Yokley provided her offensive spark in the third frame as she knocked down her only two 3-pointers of the game in back-to-back attempts, taking MSSU’s lead from 37-33 to 43-33. Right before those two shots, she had shot a corner 3-pointer long that sailed over the rim.
“We want her to shoot. She can shoot it. We have confidence in her, and she has confidence in herself. Really, her bread-and-butter 3 is that one at the top of the key. That corner one she doesn’t get a lot. It’s a little different angle, but anytime she gets something up top and she’s open, we want her shooting that,” Ressel said.
Later, Thomas tacked on two free throws, and the lead was up to 12 points.
Ressel added that his team did well with hustle plays to be able to win the game. One in particular came when Camryn Smith finished a layup and turned around and stole the ball on Northwest's inbound play. Her basket made it 57-50 in favor of the Lions. Her steal led to Grace Frazier being fouled and making 1 of 2 free throws to go up 8 points.
The Bearcats made a run after falling behind by double digits. That was with 4:24 left, but at the 2:32 mark, they had trimmed the lead, trailing 45-39. They trailed 50-42 entering the last quarter.
That’s when the big run came. Brooklyn Stanley converted a layup, Kirsten Hauck hit a 3-point basket and Sadie Maas added a layup to make it 50-49 after three minutes of action.
But Southern withstood that run and had a quick burst of its own with the Clay 3-pointer. Clay spoke about the opportunity to play in the tournament for the first time as a redshirt sophomore after watching it from the bench last year.
“It’s just really exciting. Last year, we won the first game and lost the second. On the sideline, you can’t do much, and now I’m out there the whole game, and I control a lot. It feels good to advance,” Clay said.
Clay played the entire game. She didn’t come out at any point during the 40 minutes of action.
“She’s a warrior playing all 40 in an intense game like that. We usually put her on the best guard as far as scoring, so she has to do everything for us,” Ressel said.
Thomas spoke about being able to advance as well.
"I think it means a lot. We did a lot of work for this, and we were prepared," Thomas said.
The Lions will meet No. 1 seed University of Central Missouri (24-5) at noon Saturday. MSSU was last in the semifinals in 2023 when it won the tournament. The Lions lost to the Jennies 73-64 last Wednesday in Warrensburg.
Ressel was asked how to prepare for the quick turnaround.
"They go to their bed and lay down the rest of the day until tomorrow when we go eat breakfast. No," Ressel said with a smile. "We just played Central, so that will be fresh in our minds. ... It will come down to who competes, rebounds the ball and gets things done on the defensive end. We have to get as much rest as we can and prepare mentally."
Continue reading...
