February 22, 2018-The Lady Hornets saw their chances of advancing straight to Kansas City for the MIAA Tournament take a hit as they fell 75-67 to Northeastern State on Thursday night in Tahlequah, Okla. Emporia State will need Southwest Baptist to defeat Neb.-Kearney on Friday night in Kearney and then the Lady Hornets will need to defeat Central Oklahoma on Saturday in Edmond in order to receive a bye to the MIAA Quarterfinals.
Emporia State led 7-4 with 6:37 left in the first quarter before going on a four minute scoreless drought. Northeastern State was able to take advantage by going on an 11-0 run to take a 15-7 lead with 2:36 left in the period. The Lady Hornets trailed 19-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Marissa Preston scored the first points of the second quarter to cut the lead to three points, but the RiverHawks then went on another 11-0 run to go up 30-16 with 6:08 left in the half. Jessica Wayne scored the final four points of the half to cut the deficit to 37-28 going to the locker rooms.
The Lady Hornets extended the run to 9-0 to start the second half as they held the RiverHawks scoreless for 6:45 from the end of the second quarter into the third quarter. Emily Miller's jumper made it 37-33 with 6:12 left in the third. Northeastern State responded with a 4-0 mini-run to go up 41-33 with 5:37 left in the period. A three-pointer from Marissa Preston cut the RiverHawks lead to 48-46 with 15 seconds left but Bailee Eldred converted an old fashioned three-point play with 2.0 seconds left to make it 51-46 going to the fourth.
Tyra Jones scored inside with 7:52 left to pull Emporia State within 54-52 but Northeastern State answered with back to back three-pointers by Cailyn Long pushed the lead up to 60-52 with 6:01 left. Cenia Hayes hit one of two free throws with 4:21 remaining to give the RiverHawks a 65-54 lead. Tyra Jones cut the lead down to six with two free throws with 1:16 left but Northeastern State hit six of ten free throws in the final 1:16 to ice their first win over Emporia State in Tahlequah since 2014.
Jessica Wayne led Emporia State with 17 points and seven rebounds while Marissa Preston added 15 points and Emily Miller scored 11 points. Tyra Jones had ten points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes.
The Lady Hornets will now need to scoreboard watch on Saturday as they travel to Central Oklahoma. A win over the Bronchos coupled with a loss by Neb.-Kearney will send Emporia State straight to Kansas City for the MIAA Quarterfinals. Otherwise the Lady Hornets will host a first round game on Monday night in White Auditorium.
