December 3, 2016-Playing in the first ever match up between the defending national champions and the the top ranked team in the country, the #1 Lady Hornets defeated Lubbock Christian 60-50 on Saturday afternoon in White Auditorium.
After Kelly Moten got the Lady Hornets on the board with a three-pointer, the Lady Chaps reeled off seven straight points to take a 7-3 lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter. Emporia State answered with an 11-2 run to take a 14-9 lead with 2:46 left in the period. The Lady Hornets hit three three-pointers during the run and another three-pointer from Addie Lackey gave Emporia State a 17-12 lead at the end of the quarter.
Emporia State opened the second period on a 9-2 run as they took a 26-14 lead with 5:59 left in the half. The Lady Chaps used a 6-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 26-20 with 3:47 left in the half. A free throw from Shelby Baker and a three-pointer from Megan Holloway sent the Lady Hornets to the locker room with a 32-22 lead.
The start of the second half saw Kyrstie Miller hit two three-pointers sandwiched around another Holloway trey to give Emporia State their biggest lead of the night at 41-24 with 6:33 left in the third quarter. The second three by Miller would be the last field goal for Emporia State in the period as they would not score again until Miller hit two free throws with 1:18 left in the period. Lubbock Christian could only make up 11 points during the dry spell to the Lady Hornet lead to 43-37 going into the fourth quarter.
Tiana Moala started the final period with an old fashioned three-point play to give Emporia State a 46-37 lead with 9:12 left in the game. Baker would hit one of two free throws with 6:36 left to push the Lady Hornet lead back into double digits. The Lady Chaps trimmed the lead to six with 5:34 left on back to back lay ups by Hannah Harbin and Olivia Robertson. Moten then went on a personal 5-1 run with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to give Emporia State a 52-42 lead with 3:51 remaining. Her three would be the last field goal for Emporia State as they hit eight of ten free throws in the final 1:40 to ice the win.
Moten led all scorers with 18 points and added nine rebounds to lead four Lady Hornets in double figures. Miller had ten points with career highs of 12 rebounds and six steals. Lackey added 11 points and Holloway had ten points and four assists for Emporia State. Holloway had a career high three made three-pointers.
With the win Emporia State improved to 8-0 on the year and are now 19-5 all-time while playing as the #1 team in the nation.Â
The #1 Lady Hornets will open MIAA play on December 8 at Neb.-Kearney. Tip-off from the Health and Sports Center in Kearney, Neb. is set for 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
NOTES
Moten moved into the top ten in Lady Hornet career scoring and blocks. She now has 1,465 points to pass Sandy Schrant (1,452 pts from 1979-84) and is tied with Ida Edwards (2007-09) with 76 career blocks.
