Women's Basketball | 3/12/2012 10:25:00 PM
March 12, 2012-For just the second time this year Emporia State saw Pittsburg State overcome a halftime deficit as the Gorillas defeated the Lady Hornets 79-67, this time in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship game.
The fifth seeded Lady Hornets jumped out to a 6-2 lead to start the game and never trailed in the opening 20 minutes, thanks in large part to a six of 13 effort from behind the three point line. Lizzy Jeronimus single handedly kept the third seeded Gorillas in the contest in the first half with 19 points in the opening frame. ESU led 32-28 but three Gorilla free throws in the final 2:18 cut the lead to one at intermission.
Pitt State came out of the locker room on fire as they hit their first five shots of the half along with two free throws to take a 43-32 lead with 17:01 left in the game. ESU cut the lead back to four at 50-46 with 11:02 left on a pair of Heather Robben free throws. PSU answered with a 5-0 mini run to push the lead back to nine at 57-48 with 8:12 left. A put back by Jocelyn Cummings and a lay up by Kelsey Balcom got the Lady Hornets back to within five again at 59-54 with 5:51 remaining. Jeronimus hit two more of her game high 15 free throws and Drew Roberts hit a jumper to push the lead back to nine points and ESU could not get the lead below six the rest of the night.
ESU was led by Kathryn Flott with 21 points and a career high five made three pointers. She was joined in double figures by Heather Robben with 17 points. Jeronimus led all scorers with 35 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field and 15 of 17 from the foul line. Bordewick was the only other Gorilla in double figures with 15.
Jeronimus was named the regional Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Roberts, Robben, Cummings and Stevi Schultz of Washburn.
The Lady Hornets end the season 23-9 overall and played in their ninth NCAA Regional Championship game. Robben was the only senior that saw significant playing time as five of ESU's top eight scorers were either freshmen or sophomores.
NOTES:
Jeronimus 35 points are the most scored against the Lady Hornets by an opposing player in NCAA Tournament play.
Flott's five made three-pointers are tied for third in NCAA Tournament play by a Lady Hornet.
ESU allowed Pitt State to shoot .510 from the field for the game, the first time in 72 games that an opponent has shot over 50% from the field.
