Press Release

Feb. 27, 2009

Win and They're In: Bearcats Going for MIAA's No. 8 Seed

Game Notes (.pdf) | Live Stats | Watch Live (MIAA TV)
Listen Live (Bearcat Radio Network) | MIAA Scoreboard

MARYVILLE, Mo. - Northwest Missouri State women's basketball controls it's own destiny Saturday when the Bearcats travel to the Leggett and Platt Athletic Center for a 1 p.m. meeting with Missouri Southern.

A win will advance Northwest to Kansas City as the No. 8 seed in the MIAA tournament. A loss will allow either Southwest Baptist or Missouri Western to take that position.

Northwest has played in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium every season since the tournament moved from campus sites in 2003. The Bearcats are trying to avoid becoming the first women's team in MIAA history to not make the tournament, when eligible to qualify, after winning the trophy the year before. Southeast Missouri State won the tournament in 1991 in its final year as a Division II member.

Jessica Burton leads Northwest with 18.6 points and 55.6 field goal percentage during the last seven games and her 20.4 points per game during the month of February (as of 2/24) leads all MIAA players.

Micaela Uriell is shooting 41.2 percent from the three-point line in the last four road games and has scored double-digit points in five of her last six games. She leads Northwest with 37 three-pointers this season, with nearly a third coming in February.

Rickeya McElroy is averaging 1.54 blocked shots per game, which is just shy of Missouri Southern's team average of 1.57. McElroy made four blocks against Southwest Baptist Wednesday night on top of 22 points on 11-of-17 shooting. McElroy needs one block against the Lions to tie Cheryl Johnson for second in all-time season records at 41.

McElroy, Burton, Shelly Martin and Melissa Nyquist are each shooting better than 40 percent from the field during the last 11 games since Jan. 17. Burton, Martin and Meghan Brue are also shooting better than 80 percent from the free-throw line in that span, and Burton is on pace to finish second in career records with a 77.4 mark from the charity stripe.

Brue enters Missouri Southern with 1,245 career points and needs 25 to move past Julie Chadwick for 11th in program records. Brue also enters with 125 career steals and is three away from surpassing Marla Sapp for ninth in program records.