BACK TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP; LADY HORNETS DEFEAT UNK 61-52 IN MIAA SEMIFINALS

March 7, 2020-Emporia State doubled up Neb.-Kearney in the second quarter on the way to a 61-52 win on Saturday afternoon as the Lady Hornets advanced to their 15^th MIAA Tournament Championship game.
 
The teams traded buckets most of the first quarter with Elisa Backes scoring for the Lopers with 2:08 left to tie the game at 13-13.  Aspen Jansa hit a three-pointer to open the second quarter scoring and give UNK their biggest lead of the game at 16-13.  The Lopers led 20-19 with 6:22 left when the Lady Hornets closed the quarter on a 14-3 run. Jaylyn Harris scored the first four and last two points of the run as Emporia State took a 33-23 lead to the locker room.  Harris scored all nine of her points in the second period, the most points she has scored in a game since getting ten points against Henderson State in the second game of the year.
 
Mollie Mounsey scored the first points of the second half to cap what turned out to be an 11-0 run and gave the Lady Hornets a 35-23 lead.  She would end up scoring all nine points for Emporia State in the third period to match the Lopers as Emporia State took a 42-32 lead into the final period.
 
Tre'Zure Jobe , Mounsey and Morgan Laudan combined to score the first seven points of the fourth quarter with Laudan's three-pointer with 7:18 left gave the Lady Hornets their biggest lead of the game at 49-32.  The Lopers, who will likely see their season come to an end despite a 26-6 record, answered with a 14-3 run of their own over the next five minutes to cut the deficit to six points with 2:04 left.  Kali Martin scored with 1:26 left to push the lead back to 54-46 and then hit one of two free throws with 1:00 remaining to give Emporia State a 55-46 lead.  Tre'Zure Jobe hit one of two from the charity stripe with 38.8 seconds left to push the lead back to double digits.  Emporia State then hit five of six free throws in the final 30 seconds to secure the 61-52 victory and advance to Sunday's Tournament Championship game.
 
Mollie Mounsey led all scorers with 20 points and added seven rebounds.  She was joined in double figures by Tre'Zure Jobe with 11 points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals.  Jaylyn Harris finished with nine points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
 
Emporia State will take on #15 Central Missourin in the MIAA Championship game on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. in Kansas City's Municipal Auditorium.  It will be the 15^th MIAA Championship game for Emporia State and the 16^th for Central Missouri. It will be the third time the two have met in a championship game with the Lady Hornets winning the previous two in 2013 and 2014.
 
NOTES
With five assists Tre'Zure Jobe now has 102 this season and passed Addie Lackey (99 in 2014-15) for second on the Lady Hornet freshman assist list.
Mollie Mounsey hit two three-pointers to give her 87 on the season and pass Emily Miller (86 made threes in 2018-19) for fifth on the Lady Hornet single season three-point list.
With 20 points in the semifinals Mollie Mounsey has 50 points in the tournament and needs 13 in the championship game to move into the top ten of single tournament scoring.  She is 26 points shy of former Lady Hornet Emily Bloss MIAA Tournament record of 76 points set in 2001.
The Lady Hornets are now 46-15 (.754) all-time in the MIAA Tournament with a 15-6 record in the semifinals.