Box Score

 

Feb. 18, 2009

MARYVILLE, Mo. – A foul on Bulldog G Julie Guinn with 1.4 seconds to play sent Northwest Missouri State’s Abby Henry to the line for the winning free throw in a tight contest on Wednesday night, as the Truman women’s basketball team dropped a 67-66 heartbreaker in Maryville. Junior G Laura Joya had a team-high 23 points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs.

 

Down 23-19 in the first half, Truman (6-19, 3-15 MIAA) pieced together an 11-0 run to take a 30-23 lead with 3:33 to go in the opening frame. The Bearcats would close the deficit to one, but a pair of freshman G Erin Mayes free throws sent Truman into the intermission with a 34-31 edge.

 

The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 51-46 with 11:26 to go and had a chance to widen the gap even more, but back-to-back missed lay-ups coupled with a 5-0 Bearcat (8-16, 4-13 MIAA) spurt knotted the score at 51 with 9:15 to play.

 

Truman held off a streaking Bearcat bunch until the 2:04 mark, when Jessica Burton sank two of her game-high 28 points from the charity stripe to give Northwest its first lead since the 23-19 edge in the first half.

 

Joya quickly evened the tally with a jumper before both teams went cold, giving Truman the basketball back with 39.2 seconds on the clock. Following a timeout, the Bulldogs went through Joya, whose shot in the paint was off the mark, leading to a Bearcat timeout with six seconds to play.

 

Henry took the Bearcat in-bound pass and drove to the bucket, drawing a foul on Guinn with 1.4 seconds on the clock. After hitting the first, Henry intentionally missed the second try and Truman failed to get off a potential winning shot.

 

Joya’s 23 marked a new career-high, set earlier this season at Rockhurst, while senior F Georgia Mueller added 13 points and five rebounds to move into 8th all-time on the MIAA’s career rebounding chart (858 total).

 

The Bulldogs shot 45% (23-for-51) from the field for the game and hit 17-of-20 free throws.

 

For Northwest, Burton’s 29 was the highest scored by an opponent against the ’Dogs this season, and Henry tacked on 13 points of her own.

 

The Bulldogs play their last road game of the regular season this Saturday at Missouri Western (6-18, 5-12 MIAA). Tip-off in St. Joseph is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.