March 6, 2021-Fifth ranked Fort Hays State hit six of eight free throws in the final 2:11 to pull out a 77-72 victory over Emporia State in the semifinals of the MIAA Championship Tournament presented by Citizens Bank & Trust. With the loss the Lady Hornets will have to wait until Sunday night to find out their NCAA Tournament fate.
Emporia State led 9-8 with 5:42 left in the first quarter on a
Daley Handy three-pointer. The Tigers then went on an 8-0 run to take a 16-9 lead with 3:47 remaining in the period. The Lady Hornets ended the quarter on a 7-2 run and Laura Garcia-Laffitte's layup from
Tre'Zure Jobe with 39 seconds left pulled Emporia State to within 18-16 after one.
Fort Hays State held the Lady Hornets to just one field goal over nearly an eight minute span in the second quarter and took their biggest lead of the night at 31-23 with 1:00 remaining.
Sidney Tinner hit a three-pointer for the Lady Hornets with 41 seconds left to make it 31-26 at the break.
Olivia Hollenbeck converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 8:36 left to give Fort Hays State a 36-28 lead. Emporia State then went on a 16-0 run in just over three minutes and went up 44-36 on Jobe's three pointer with 5:10 remaining and forced FHSU to call timeout.
A driving layup by
Fredricka Sheats gave the Lady Hornets a 46-38 lead with 3:11 left. Jaden Hobbs hit back to back three-pointers to pull the Tigers back within two at 46-44 with 2:18 remaining. A layup by
Ehlaina Hartman gave Emporia State a 52-46 lead with 1:07 left in the period but Hobbs and Lauryn Reither would each hit three-pointers in the final 46 seconds to send the game to the fourth quarter tied at 52.
The teams traded scores to start the fourth and
Daley Handy's elbow jumper with 5:01 left put Emporia State up 66-62. The Tigers scored the next four points from the free throw line to tie the game at 66 and Whitney Randall scored on a fast break to give FHSU a 68-66 lead with 3:48 left. Hollenbeck hit one of two free throws with 3:08 left to put the Tigers up 69-66 but Handy got the ball up court quickly to score and pull the Lady Hornets with a point with 3:02 remaining.
From that point on the Tigers were able to convert from the charity stripe to hold the Lady Hornets off.
Karsen Schultz scored with 24.9 seconds left to bring Emporia State within 72-70 following a Jobe steal. Madison Mittie hit one of two free throws with 11.0 seconds remaining that left the door open for the Lady Hornets. After a timeout to advance the ball, Emporia State could not get the ball inbounds and turned it over on a five second call. Hobbs hit two free throws with 5.2 left to make it 75-70. After another timeout to advance the ball, Jobe found
Emily Weathers with 1.1 seconds left to pull within 75-72. Hobbs was fouled with 0.4 seconds left and she hit both free throws for the final score of 77-72.
Fredricka Sheats and
Ehlaina Hartman each had 16 points to lead Emporia State while
Karsen Schultz added 12.
Tre'Zure Jobe scored nine and had six assists and three steals.
With the loss Emporia State's NCAA Tournament future will not be known until Sunday night's selection show. The Lady Hornets are 18-6 on the year and were ranked seventh in last week's regional rankings. They have three wins over teams that were ranked in the top eight of the last regular season regional rankings, including a win over top ranked Fort Hays State in the regular season. Since the last rankings came out Emporia State has a win over regional #8 Central Oklahoma. The two teams in front of them in the regional rankings, St. Cloud State and Augustana, are both 12-5 and did not play this week.
