Box score | Season stats

MARYVILLE, Mo. -- The SBU Bearcat women rallied after being down by 14 points, but their comeback came up short as the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats held off SBU to win 79-74. Ashleigh Gallio had a career high with 20 points including six of eight from long distance, while Chasity Prince and Jasmine Sanford each had 14. Courtney Heady also chipped in 12. Sanford also recorded 10 boards to go along with her 14 points for her first double-double of the season.

"Our team is improving. We made some good plays down the stretch and we're giving good effort," said SBU head coach J.C. Carter. "Northwest is a talented team that gave Emporia State their only loss. We did a good job of attacking the basketball and in our half court defense, but we can still get better. We're not making the same mistakes like we were earlier this season."

Northwest jumped out to a 12-2 lead before SBU battled back, cutting the NWMSU lead to four. The green Bearcats pushed the lead back up and led 34-20 with two minutes left. SBU scored the last nine points of the first half on a three-point play from Jasmine Sanford and two treys from Gallio. The junior point guard would hit four of five from outside in the first half as Northwest Missouri led 34-29 at the break.

The visiting Bearcats scored the first five points of the second half to tie the game. A three-pointer from Prince gave SBU their only lead of the contest, 41-39 with 15:31 left. A three from Mia Gilreath tied the game again at 44 each before NWMSU used a 9-1 run to lead by eight points. Later a three from Northwest's Shelly Martin gave the green Bearcats a 66-56 lead with 6:12 left.

SBU used outside shooting to climb back again and cut the deficit to 70-68 on a three from Rachel Graves with 2:43 left. Abby Henry answered right back for Northwest with a three of her own before a layup by SBU's Whitney Malone and later free throws from Heady cut the lead to one. Henry scored the last six points for Northwest to grab the victory.

Carter moved Heady into the starting lineup and slid Gallio to the shooting guard spot. Gallio responded with a career high 20 points and hit six of eight from outside. "Heady does well with the ball in her hand and still had 12 points. We got better point production from Ashleigh. I was also proud of Prince -- proud of her offense the last few games but more proud of her defense."

Henry led Northwest Missouri (9-7, 5-4 MIAA) with 25 points, one of four NWMSU players in double figures. NWMSU shot 49% from the field and 47% from outside for the game. SBU shot 40% from the field and connected on 11 of 30 treys (37%).

SBU (3-13, 1-8 MIAA) is back home Tuesday night for the first of three straight from the Meyer Sports Center. The SBU women will host Missouri Western at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.