PITTSBURG – There are only four games left in the regular season and three of them will be played at home in John Lance Arena/Whetzel Court, beginning with this week's games against Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western. Northwest Missouri comes to Pittsburg on Thursday for a Family Day game at 5:30 p.m. Saturday the Gorillas take on Missouri Western at 1:30 p.m. It will be a busy day as several student-athletes will be recognized as recipients for the Provost's Award for Academic Excellence, Outstanding Faculty will be honored and Pittsburg State seniors Paige Lungwitz and Hadyn Herlocker will be recognized immediately after the game for their contributions to the program's success.   

Scouting Northwest Missouri 

Northwest Missouri posts an 8-14 overall and 3-12 conference records. The Bearcats dropped their last three games to Lindenwood (70-81), No. 11 Emporia State (48-86) and Washburn (77-87). They earned their last win on Feb. 2 at Lincoln (70-60).

Most of the team's 66.3 points per game are from Tanya Meyer. She is scoring a conference-high 20.1 ppg and ranks sixth in total points this season (362). Her field goal percentage, .484 (104-214) is third-best in the MIAA. On the defensive end, Meyer's 9.8 rebounds per game are second in the conference. Howe also has a conference-best three-point percentage of .448 (56-125) and contributes 14.0 ppg. Arbrie Benson pitches in 10.6 ppg and 4.2 assists per game.

As a team, Northwest Missouri is shooting .440 (528-1201) in the paint, .392 (184-469) from distance and .717 (218-304) from the charity line. The team is also averaging 35.0 rebounds, 13.0 assists, 3.6 steals and 1.7 blocks per contest.

Scouting Missouri Western 

Missouri Western is 18-6 overall and 10-5 in the MIAA going into this week. The Griffons suffered a heartbreaker against Washburn (55-57) on Wednesday (Feb. 8), but sought redemption on Saturday and gave No. 11 Emporia State their third loss of the season, 68-59. The team will travel to Missouri Southern on Wednesday.

Chelsea Dewey (13.9 ppg) and Dwanisha Tate (12.2 ppg) lead Missouri Western in scoring. The duo combines for .436 (229-525) from the paint. Julia Torres is the team's top rebounder with 7.5 rpg and shoots .453 (86-190) within the arc. Dewey records 3.8 apg. Torres and Sefulu Faavae add nine points each per game.

The Griffons are shooting .435 (624-1436) from the field, .333 (147-442) from the arc and .703 (267-380) from the free throw line. Additionally, MWSU records 69.3 points, 33.3 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 10.8 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.

Scouting Pittsburg State

Pittsburg State is the No. 7 team in the country with a 21-3 record overall and a 13-2 record in MIAA play. All three of Pitt State's losses have been to top 10 teams. Pitt State is currently on a four-game win streak and leads the MIAA standings. The Gorillas have secured a spot in the MIAA Tournament and have only four games remaining in the regular season.   

The team has won its games by an average of almost 18 points per game. The 61-point win over Rio-Piedras was the largest of the season, while the four-point win over Kearney was the closest. Pitt State scores 76.79 ppg, while holding opponents to 59.2 ppg. The most points scored by the Gorillas this season were the 106 points against Lincoln on Jan. 12.

The Gorillas are shooting .443 from the floor overall and .365 from three-point range. The Gorillas make an average of 9.8 threes a game, but are holding opponents to just 3.8 made threes a game. Pitt State is also outrebounding its opponents by 6.2 rpg. 

Mikaela Burgess leads the Gorillas with 17.3 ppg and was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 21-27. She scored her 1,000th career point on December 1 against Nebraska-Kearney. Most recently, she set a new career-high with 35 points at Washburn on Jan. 21. She has hit 71 threes on the season, which leads the MIAA. She is also second in the MIAA with a .374 three-point percentage

Madison Northcutt, who was named the MIAA Player of the Week on Jan. 16, is second on the team with 11.5 ppg, including 12.3 ppg in conference play. She is the team's leading rebounder with 8.5 rpg. Last week she recorded double-doubles against both Central Missouri and Southwest Baptist, her fifth and sixth of the season. Northcutt is fifth in the MIAA for rebounding overall and first for offensive rebounds. 

Shelby Lopez is averaging just under double figures for the season with 9.9 ppg. Lopez has made 59 threes this season, which is  third in the MIAA. She recorded her first 20-point game with 24 points at Northwestern Oklahoma. She made six threes in that game.  

Paige Lungwitz adds 8.9 ppg. She was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of November 30-December 4 after putting up a career-high 27 against UNK. She also adds. 4.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Lungwitz excels at things that don't always show up in the stat sheet, as she is often tasked with defending the other teams' top players.

Hadyn Herlocker chips in 8.0 ppg and leads the team with 6.1 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Her assists lead the MIAA, while her steals are fifth. She also leads the MIAA with a 3.4 assists/turnover ratio. Herlocker is also the team's third-leading recbounder with 4.9 rpg. She earned MIAA and HERO Sports National Player of the Week honors after putting up a double-double with 12 points and a school record 13 assists at Lincoln on December 10. Herlocker is just 12 assists shy of setting a new school record for career assists. In just 24 games she has only two fewer assists than she did in 35 games last season.

PSU vs. Northwest Missouri

Pitt State leads the series with Northwest Missouri 32-20. Pitt State leads 19-5 in Pittsburg and 13-12 in Maryville. Northwest leads on neutral sites, 3-1.

Pitt State has won each of the last nine meetings between the two teams. Pitt State's 73-30 win in Pittsburg on December 31, 2008 was the largest win of the series by either team. The longest streak of wins in the series by either team is Pitt State's current nine-game win streak. The Bearcats longest streak of wins was four games from Nov. 19, 1988 to Jan. 11, 1992 and from March 4, 2010 to March 5, 2011.

The most points scored in the series were the 106 points by the Gorillas on Feb. 8, 2010. The match up on November 24, 2013 was the lowest scoring affair in series history, with Pitt State winning 51-44.

PSU vs. Missouri Western

Pitt State and Missouri Western have met almost regularly twice a year since the 1976-77 season. Missouri Western leads the overall series 52-24, including a 19-16 record in Pittsburg, a 29-8 mark in St. Joseph and 3-0 record at neutral sites. The two team's split meetings last season with each team winning on its home court. Pitt State won this season's earlier meeting in St. Joseph. Pitt State has won four of the last five games.

The longest run of wins between the two teams was a seven-win streak by the Griffons from March 3, 2005 to Jan. 23, 2008. Pitt State broke the streak by winning a 73-65 decision on Feb. 13, 2008. Pitt State's longest streak of wins was four from that win on Feb. 13, 2008 to Dec. 12, 2009. The Griffons broke the streak when they won the game in St. Joseph on Jan. 23, 2009.

The largest margin of victory in the series was a 29-point win (94-65) by the Griffons on Feb. 23, 1985 in St. Joseph. Pitt State's biggest win was last season's first meeting, an 82-57 victory in Pittsburg on November 30.

The most points scored by a team in the series was 101 by the Gorillas in a 101-82 win on Jan. 24, 1996 in Pittsburg.

In the Polls

Pitt State is currently ranked No. 7 in the WBCA Poll. Following the losses to Emporia State and Central Oklahoma, Pitt State dropped to No. 11 in the  WBCA Coaches Poll on Jan. 31. It was Pitt State's first week out of the top 10 since the pre-season poll. The Gorillas have been ranked as high as No. 3 several times this season. That ties the highest ranking ever for the PSU Women's Basketball Program. The Gorillas pushed their way into the top five at No. 4 with their 7-0 start to the season in the November 29 poll. The team held steady at No. 4 in the December 6 poll, but moved up to No. 3 on Dec. 13. Pitt State moved up three spots from its No. 7 spot in the Nov. 22 poll, the first regular season poll of the 2016-17 season.

Pitt State opened the season ranked No. 12 in the WBCA Preseason Coaches Poll. This marked only the second time in school history the Gorillas have started the season ranked in the nation's top 25. The other time being a No. 3 ranking at the start of the 2012-13 season. The No. 3 ranking was the highest ever for the PSU Women's Basketball program.

Emporia State is No. 13 in the poll, Central Missouri, No. 16 and Central Oklahoma, No. 18.   

Up Next

Pitt State will play a home and an away game next week. The home portion of the regular season wraps up with a 5:30 p.m. game against Missouri Southern on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The regular season wraps up on Saturday, Feb. 25 at Central Missouri at 1:30 p.m.

Record Setter

Pittsburg State senior Hadyn Herlocker set a school record for single game assists with 13 assists at Lincoln on December 10. The previous record was held by Megan Reid and Leslie Dudley with 12 and had stood since 1997.  

Herlocker is on the cusp of another record, as she is just 12 assists from breaking the single season assists record. That record is 157 and was set by current assistant coach Amanda Davied in 2003. Herlockers 146 assists through 24 games this season is only 10 fewer than she had through 35 games last  year. 

Records Check

Its time to start tracking some Gorillas in the record books. Junior Mikaela Burgess is moving up the all-time threes list. She passed Drew Roberts to move into second with 226 career threes. Burgess is averaging 2.9 made threes a game this season and would need 137 threes through the rest of this season and next for the school record. Jenni Miller holds the career record with 364. 

Hadyn Herlocker finished last season second on the single season assists list with 156, almost double from her previous two seasons combined. Herlocker now has 387 assists for her career, which is third on the all-time list. Current assistant coach Amanda Davied is the career record holder with 553.

1000 and Climbing

Mikaela Burgess is not only climbing up the career-three-point list, but also now scored 1000 career points. She hit that career milestone on December 1 against Nebraska-Kearney as she hit a layup with 4:07 left in the third quarter. 

Burgess currently has 1,301 points, 283 her freshman year, 589 last season and 415 so far this season. Her 589 points last season were third only to Lizzy Jeronimus and Leslie Dudley, the two top scorers (men or women) in Pitt State history. 

Burgess is the 20th player in school history to score 1000 or more points in her career. She is currently No. 11 on the all-time scoring list. She needs two points to pass Jenny Pracht to move into the top 10.