March 13, 2015-The #9 Lady Hornets used a 20-2 blitz to turn an 11 point deficit into a seven point advantage on the way to a 68-51 win over Arkansas State in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Central Region Tournament on Friday.
Emporia State fell behind 8-5 early but came back to take a 12-8 lead with 13:09 left in the half on a Kathryn Flott three-pointer. That would be the last field for the Lady Hornets for 10:31 as the Golden Suns went on a 22-7 run. Emporia State hit seven of ten free throws during the run but missed nine field goal attempts as they fell behind 30-19 with 3:30 left in the half. Merissa Quick hit two free throws with 3:16 left and Kelly Moten hit a three-pointer at the 2:38 mark to break the drought and pull the Lady Hornets within six points at 30-24. It would be the last points scored by either team in the half as Emporia State went to the locker room trailing for the sixth time this year.
After making just five of 25 field goals in the first 20 minutes, the Lady Hornets came out on fire and connected on five field goals in the first 5:13 of the second half. Three of the five field goals were back to back to back three pointers by three different Lady Hornets that turned a four point deifcit into a five point lead with 15:27 left in the game. Emporia State would not trail the rest of the game and used a 10-0 run to turn a three point lead at 41-38 with 12:00 left into a 51-38 lead with 7:54 remaining.
Moten led Emporia State in scoring with 15 points and added six rebounds. Quick had a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and added six blocked shots. Kelsey Barnwell was three of five from the three-point line for 11 points. Nine of ten Lady Hornets scored and nine of ten had at least one rebound as Emporia State improved to 26-4 on the season and 33-15 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
Emporia State will play 16th ranked Pittsburg State in the regional semifinals. It will be the fourth meeting between the two clubs and the third time in the last six games the Lady Hornets have met the Gorillas.
NOTES:
Quick's six blocked shots are the second most by a Lady Hornet in NCAA Tournament play. Tara Holloway had seven against Columbus State in the 2000 Elite Eight.
Quick now has 1,499 points and needs one more to tie Pam Bulson for eighth on the Lady Hornet career chart.
Quick was seven of eight from the free throw line and passed Tara Holloway for seventh on the Lady Hornet career list with 405 made free throws.
The Lady Hornets have won their opener in the last seven NCAA Tournaments they have played in.Â
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