Women's Basketball | 3/24/2020 10:52:00 PM
March 24, 2010-The #15 Emporia State Lady Hornets rallied from 18 points down with 8:48 left to defeat previously unbeaten and #1 Gannon 97-94 in the NCAA Division II Women's National Semifinals in St. Joseph, Mo. It is the third straight time ESU has defeated a #1 ranked team in the NCAA Tournament.
The game started out rather sloppy with more fouls than field goals in the first ten minutes of action. Gannon took their biggest lead of the half at 20-13 with 9:48 remaining in the frame. Back to back three pointers by Rachel Hanf and All-American Cassondra Boston cut the Lady Knights lead to one. The teams would go to halftime with the Lady Hornets leading 40-39 despite shooting just .324 from the field compared to GU's .500 shooting and being outrebounded by six.
The teams traded baskets for the first four minutes of the second half before Gannon went on a 10-0 run to take a 57-47 lead with 13:39 left. The lead would grow to 18 points at 76-58 with 8:48 remaining in the game. The Hornets then went on a 15-0 run to cut the lead to 76-73 with 4:54 remaining. Boston, Alli Volkens and Brittney Miller each scored five points during the run. The Knights went up by four with 45 seconds left but Volkens scored the final four points of the game and tied it at 87 on jumper in the lane with 8.6 seconds left. GU's Tiffany Crocker missed a shot with two seconds left and Lacy Corker corralled the rebound to send the game to overtime.
Crocker opened the extra frame with a three pointer before Boston answered with a jumper in the lane. Shanna Thompson put GU back up by three on a lay-up with 2:55 remaining. A free throw from Volkens at the 2:37 mark pulled ESU within two but she missed the second. Miller was fouled on the rebound and hit two free throws with 2:35 left to tie the game at 92. The Lady Hornets went back to Volkens to go ahead 94-92 with 1:53 left. Thompson scored again for GU for the 12th tie of the game with 1:34 left.
The Lady Hornets took the lead for good on a pair of free throws from Corker with 47.0 seconds left. Crocker threw the ball out of bounds with 5 seconds left for Gannon and Sophia Lenard hit one of two free throws to give ESU a three points lead with 4.4 seconds left. Carrie Nolan's three was off target at the buzzer and ESU was headed to their first national championship game since 1998.
Boston ended with a game high 21 points while Volkens added 20 points for the Lady Hornets. Miller had 18 points and nine rebounds and Jamie Augustyn hit five three-pointers to finish with 15 points.
The Lady Hornets take on #6 Ft. Lewis on March 26 2010 at 7 p.m. in the national championship game at the Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo.
NOTES
Emporia State is now 3-1 against #1 ranked teams in the NCAA Tournament - they lost to North Dakota 87-81 in the 1999 National Semifinals; won at Drury 78-71 in the 2005 South Central Regional semifinals; won at Washburn 61-59 in overtime in the 2006 South Central Regional Championship; and now defeated Gannon 97-94 in overtime in the 2010 National Semifinals.
