January 10, 2018-The Lady Hornets forced 23 turnovers as they won their 26
th straight game in White Auditorium with a 61-53 victory over #15 Central Oklahoma. Emporia State is now 29-11 all-time against Top 25 teams in White Auditorium.
The first quarter was the lowest scoring of the year for the Lady Hornets as the two teams combined for just 18 points. The Bronchos had an 8-5 lead midway through the period but Emporia State would score the final five points and took a 10-8 lead on a pair of Jessica Wayne free throws with five seconds left.
The Lady Hornets used an 8-2 run to take an 18-10 lead on Morgan Laudan's layup with 7:11 left in the first half. The Bronchos closed the gap to two on Melinda Murillo's old-fashioned three point play with 3:54 left in the half and Emily Miller pushed the lead back to four for Emporia State with 2:58 left. Central Oklahoma responded with a 7-0 run to take a 25-22 lead with 28 seconds left in the half. The Lady Hornets worked the clock and Laudan was able to score inside with ten seconds left and got the and one to tie the game at 25 at the break.
The third quarter belonged to Emporia State as the Lady Hornets doubled up the Bronchos 20-10 in the period. With the score tied at 29 Tyra Jones scored on an old-fashioned three-point play with 6:40 left and Wayne followed with a bucket of her own to give the Lady Hornets a 34-29 lead with 6:21 left in the period. Jesheon Cooper scored inside with 3:55 left to cut the deficit to three with 3:55 remaining. Emporia State then went on a 9-2 run to take a 45-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Hornets scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to extend the run to 15-2 and led 51-35 with 8:02 left in the game. The Bronchos would chip away at the lead over the next seven and a half minutes and cut the lead to six on Jo'Nah Johnson's three-pointer with 28 seconds left. Tatum Graves and Marissa Preston combined to go four for four from the free throw line in the final 18 seconds to ice Emporia State's 82
nd overall win over a nationally ranked team.
Jessica Wayne led Emporia State with 16 points and a career high six steals to go with four rebounds and three assists. She was joined in double figures by Morgan Laudan with 12 points and Jacee Kramer with ten points. Tyra Jones had a game high ten rebounds for the Lady Hornets.
Emporia State will be back in action on Saturday afternoon against Northeastern State. Tip-off against the RiverHawks is set for 1:30 p.m.
