March 8, 2019-The Lady Hornets made just three of 17 shots in the fourth quarter of a 61-53 loss to Washburn in the MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday night at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. With the loss Emporia State will need to wait until Sunday night to learn their NCAA Tournament fate.
The game started out slowly with Emporia State taking a 6-2 lead with 6:44 left in the opening quarter. Washburn went on a 9-2 run to take an 11-8 lead with 4:21 left in the period. Tyra Jones would score the next five points on a jumper and a hoop and harm three-point play to give the Lady Hornets a 13-11 lead with 1:57 left. Two Kali Martin free throws with 1:21 left were the last points of the period as Emporia State took a 15-13 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter consisted of two big runs. The Ichabods opened with an 11-2 run to take a 24-17 lead with 6:25 left in the half. The Lady Hornets responded with a 9-1 run and took a 26-25 lead on Tiana Moala's layup with 27 seconds left. Makayla Vargo scored at the buzzer to give Washburn a 27-26 lead going to the locker rooms.
Neither team took more than a four point lead in the third quarter, that coming with 5:37 left when Emily Miller hit a three-pointer to give Emporia State a 35-31 lead with 5:37 left. There would be three ties and six lead changes the rest of the quarter with Jessica Wayne scoring on a put back with 24 seconds left to put the Lady Hornets up 43-41 headed to the fourth quarter.
Emporia State was held scoreless over the first 5:47 of the fourth quarter as Washburn built a 50-43 lead before Addie Lackey hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to four with 4:13 left. A three-pointer from Wayne made it 53-49 before the Ichabods got a jumper from Hunter Bentley and a three-pointer from Reagan Phelan to take their biggest lead of the night at 58-49 with 2:23 remaining. Jones went coast to coast for a layup with 54 seconds left and then got a steal of the inbounds pass to go to the line with 51 seconds left. She hit one of two free throws to pull Emporia State within 59-53. Alexis McAfee scored with 42 seconds left to make it an eight point game and the Lady Hornets would miss three three pointers and a layup in the next 15 seconds as Washburn picked up the 61-53 lead.
Tyra Jones and Jessica Wayne each had double-doubles for the Lady Hornets. Jones finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Wayne had 12 points and ten board.
Emporia State, who was ranked sixth in the last regular season regional rankings, will learn their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday night during the NCAA Selection Show on ncaa.com at 9:00 p.m.
NOTES
Addie Lackey scored seven points to pass Denise Dawson (1,424 points from 1984-88) for 12
th on the Lady Hornet career scoring list with 1,429 points.
Jessica Wayne had two steals to break Emily Bloss (106 steals in 1998-99) and Aneta Kausaite (106 steals in 1997-98) Lady Hornet single season record and now has 107 steals this year.
Emporia State was ranked sixth in the NCAA Central Region headed into the MIAA Tournament and were the only team in the region with wins over the top three ranked teams in the region. Their 5-2 record against teams ranked in the top ten of the region is second only to Ft. Hays State 5-1 record.
