LADY HORNET SEASON COMES TO AN END AT NCAA TOURNAMENT

March 15, 2019-The seventh seeded Lady Hornets had a eight point lead to start the fourth quarter but second seeded and #7 nationally ranked Southwestern Oklahoma came back to take a 71-65 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division II Central Regional Tournament in Hays, Kan. on Friday afternoon.
 
The game was full of runs with SWOSU using an 8-4 run to go up 15-10 with 4:29 left in the first period.  Emporia State responded with a 10-1 run late in the quarter sparked by five points from Brittany Kramer off the bench to go 24-19 with 25 seconds left. An Emily Miller three pointer gave the Lady Hornets a 27-22 lead after the first.
 
The second quarter saw eight lead changes and three ties with neither team taking more than a five-point lead in the period.  A three-pointer from Taber Beer with 1:31 left gave the Bulldogs a 42-37 lead.  Morgan Laudan responded with an old fashioned three-point play with 43 seconds left and Addie Lackey buried a three-pointer with seven seconds left to send the Lady Hornets to the locker room with a 43-42 lead.  Nine of the ten Lady Hornets that played in the first half scored while Tatum Graves had four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
 
The lead changed hands six times in the first four minutes of the third quarter before the Lady Hornets went on an 11-0 run.  Tyra Jones scored on a put back with 1:11 left as Emporia State took their biggest lead of the day at 60-50.  Beer hit two free throws with 14 seconds left to cut the lead to 60-52 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Emporia State would go on a 5:30 scoring drought following Jones layup in the third, but SWOSU could not take full advantage of it and only pulled within a point with 6:47 left on a layup by Hayden Priddy. Moala scored off an offensive rebound to give the Lady Hornets a 62-59 lead with 5:41 left to break the scoring drought. Priddy tied the game with a three-pointer at the 5:22 mark and she scored inside with 4:43 left to give the Bulldogs a 64-62 lead.  Neither team would score over the next three minutes until Priddy capped her personal 10-2 run with a three-pointer at the 1:39 mark to give SWOSU a 67-62 lead.
 
Jessica Wayne hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to four with 1:27 left.  Hailey Tucker hit one of two free throws with 1:08 left to push the Bulldog lead to 68-63 but Wayne quickly scored for the Lady Hornets to make it 68-65 with 1:01 remaining.  Southwestern worked the shot clock and Priddy missed a three-pointer as the shot clock was about to expire.  Laudan secured the rebound, giving the Lady Hornets a chance to tie as they called timeout with 17.1 seconds left.  Lackey missed a potential game tying three and the Bulldogs hit three of four rebounds in the final 11.7 seconds to pick up the win.
 
Tyra Jones led Emporia State with 17 points and ten rebounds as all ten Lady Hornets that suited up scored.  Jessica Wayne had nine points and four steals while Emily Miller added eight points and eight rebounds.  Morgan Laudan matched Jones with ten rebounds.
 
The Lady Hornets end the season 22-9 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 20^th time in the last 23 years after missing last year's tourney.
 
NOTES
Addie Lackey ended her career as the 12^th leading scorer in Lady Hornet history with 1,434 points in 133 career games.  She is also ranked third with 209 career made three-pointers.
Tiana Moala ended her career as the fifth leading shot blocker in Lady Hornet history with 154 blocks in 108 career games.
Emily Miller was fifth on the Lady Hornets single season three-pointers made chart with 86 made treys this season.
Jessica Wayne set an Emporia State record with 112 steals on the season. She became just the seventh Lady Hornet with over 200 career steals and will enter her senior year with 202.
The Lady Hornets are now 40-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
Toby Wynn became just the second coach in Lady Hornet history to win at least 20 games and make the NCAA Tournament.