March 5, 2025 – The season came to a close for the Lady Hornets on Wednesday evening in the first round of the MIAA Tournament, as Emporia State fell 70-59 against Central Missouri.
Central Missouri opened the game with the first five points and the Lady Hornets responded with a 9-2 scoring run to take their first lead of the game at the 5:41 mark. At the 3:20 mark, a three by
Gracie Gilpin put Emporia State ahead 12-11. The Jennies responded with an 8-0 run to close the quarter, as the Lady Hornets missed their final five attempts of the quarter and trailed 19-12 heading to the second.
The scoring run for Central Missouri continued into the second, as six straight points for the Jennies made the score 25-12, the largest lead for Central Missouri in the game. Emporia State responded with ten of the next 12 points, trimming the Jennies' lead to 27-22 with 3:15 remaining before halftime. Like the first, the Lady Hornets missed their final five shots of the quarter as Central Missouri built a 35-24 lead heading to the halftime break.
Emporia State shot just 8-32 in the first half while Central Missouri shot 16-34 from the floor.
In the third quarter, the Lady Hornets improved their shooting percentage, going 6-15 from the floor and forced four Central Missouri turnovers as they closed the deficit to 47-41 heading to the fourth quarter.
Central Missouri opened the fourth quarter, with a 9-2 scoring run to take a 56-43 lead, matching the largest deficit of the game for the Lady Hornets. Emporia State would cut the lead to as little as eight points, as a three by
Gracie Gilpin with 2:30 left made the score 60-52.
Emporia State was unable to complete a comeback, as the Jennies made eight of their ten free throw attempts in the final two minutes, as the Lady Hornets fell 70-59.
Gracie Gilpin scored a team-high 17 points, shooting 5-8 from three.
Katie Horyna had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in her final game as a Lady Hornet.
Emporia State finishes the season 10-19 after making their 29th consecutive trip to the MIAA Tournament.
NOTES:
With
Janiyah Alvarez finished the season with 172 rebounds to move past Tara Holloway (166 in 1996-97) into fifth on the Lady Hornets freshman rebounding list.
With five made three-pointers
Gracie Gilpin passed Amy Redmon (153 3FGM from 1988-92) and moved into a tie for ninth with Nicole Patry (157 3FGM from 2001-05) on hte Lady Hornets career three point field goals made list.
