TICKET PUNCHED: LADY HORNETS SECURE MIAA TOURNEY SPOT WITH 84-67 WIN AT MO. WESTERN

February 19, 2022-The Lady Hornets punched their ticket to Kansas City and the MIAA Tournament with an 84-67 win at Missouri Western on Saturday night in St. Joseph, Mo.
 
Emporia State jumped out to a 9-2 lead to open the game and never trailed in the contest.  An old fashioned three-point play by Kali Martin gave the Lady Hornets a 17-7 lead with 2:14 left in the quarter.  Mychaell Gray hit a shot at the buzzer to end the period and pull the Griffons within 23-16 after one.
 
Tre'Zure Jobe hit a jumper and Kali Martin converted two free throws to open the second quarter and give the Lady Hornets their biggest lead of the half at 27-16 less than a minute into the period.  The Griffons then went on a 13-2 run and tied the game at 29 on a Brionna Budgetts three-pointer with 4:41 left in the half.  Emporia State answered with a layup by Ehlaina Hartman and a bucket from Victoria Price following a Western turnover to make it 33-29. Abby Bala hit two free throws with 3:29 left to make it 33-33 but Price answered with a three-pointer to jump start a 6-1 run to end the half for Emporia State.  Emily Weathers put back at the buzzer gave the Lady Hornets a 40-34 lead going to the locker room.
 
A 16-4 run in the third quarter gave Emporia State a 62-46 lead with 4:45 left in the period. The teams would trade scores with the Lady Hornets leading 68-55 going to the fourth.
 
Karsen Schultz hit back to back jumpers to open the fourth quarter and her three-pointer with 9:14 left gave Emporia State a 73-55 lead.  Missouri Western would not get closer than 14 points the rest of the night as the Lady Hornets cruised to the 84-67 win.
 
Tre'Zure Jobe led Emporia State with 22 points and four steals.  She was joined in double figures by Ehlaina Hartman with 19 points, Victoria Price had 16 and Karsen Schultz added 13 points.  Kali Martin just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds with Emily Weathers sharing team high rebound honors with nine as well.
 
Emporia State is back in action on Monday, February 21 at Northwest Missouri.  Tip-off for the weather postponed game is set for 5:30 p.m.
 
NOTES:
With 22 points Tre'Zure Jobe passed Stef Quayle (1,420 pts from 1989-93) and Denise Dawson (1,424 pts from 1984-88) to move into 13^th on the Lady Hornet all-time scoring list with 1,427 points.
The win over Missouri Western gave the Lady Hornets the tiebreaker over Rogers State for the final spot in the MIAA Tournament. It will be the 26^th straight MIAA Tournament for the Lady Hornets.