BOLIVAR, Mo.  --  The SBU Bearcat women claimed a spot in the MIAA Tournament, by rallying to defeat to the Missouri Western Griffons 76-66.

Down 51-40 with 14 minutes left in the second half, the Bearcats (8-19, 5-15 MIAA) got two three-pointers from Rachel Graves in a five minute 13-2 run that tied the game at 53 apiece. Missouri Western (6-21, 5-15 MIAA) would regain a slight advantage over the next seven minutes before the 'Cats would take the lead for good at 64-61 on a trey from senior Cortney Shewmaker with 1:48 left.

Rachel Graves

Graves led the Bearcats with 20 points. Shewmaker had 17 points while Mia Gilreath added 13. Shewmaker, Gilreath and Jasmine Sanford each grabbed 6 boards. Shewmaker also recorded 4 steals in her final game at the Meyer Sports Center. She, along with fellow seniors Erica Smith and Courtney Creed, were honored in pregame ceremonies.

Lauren Nolke had 20 points to lead the Griffons. Both teams each grabbed 35 rebounds. The Bearcats were 18 of 21 (86%) from the foul line in the second half.

"We came out with good energy on senior night," said head coach J.C. Carter. "But we had too many turnovers in the first half. The second half was good basketball for us -- we shot well and made plays. Our shooting from the foul line gave us a chance to win the ballgame."

"The crowd gave us energy down the stretch. Western tightened up when that happened," Carter added.

Western opened the game with a 10-2 run before SBU would battle back to take the lead at 15-14 with ten minutes gone in the first half. The teams would stay close for much of the first half with Western pushing their lead to eight points on several occasions in the first. Two late treys from Shewmaker and Gilreath trimmed the Griffon lead to 33-31 at halftime.

The win snapped a ten-game losing streak for the Bearcats. Only two losses during the streak were by more than 10 points, with their average loss being by 7.4 points.

The SBU Bearcats will play top-seeded Emporia State in the first round of the MIAA Tournament, beginning Friday, March 6, at noon in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium. SBU defeated then #9 Emporia State 86-73 on January 3 in Emporia and fell to the Lady Hornets 89-81 in Bolivar on February 10. Though the 'Cats ended tied with Missouri Western, Northwest Missouri State and Truman, SBU earned the MIAA tiebreaker based on the Bearcats' 1-1 record vs Emporia while the other three squads were 0-2.

Final stats
MIAA women's bracket

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