March 16, 2015-Kelly Moten had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead #9 Emporia State to a 66-61 victory over #6 Ft. Hays State on Monday night in front of a crowd of over 4,000 in Gross Memorial Coliseum. With the win the Lady Hornets advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the sixth time in school history.
The Tigers jumped out to a 12-4 lead at the first media timeout and led 16-7 with 12:29 left in the half. The Lady Hornets then went on a 11-0 run to take their first lead of the night with 8:32 left on a Moten layup. The teams traded scores over the next five minutes and were tied at 25 with 3:14 left when Beth Bohuslavsky scored for the Tigers. That would be the last score for either team until Moten hit a layup with 42 seconds left to give Emporia State a 27-25 lead at the break.
Emporia State opened the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 34-27 lead with 16:36 remaining. An old fashioned three-point play by Kate Lehman had Ft. Hays State within 39-32 with 14:22 left when the Lady Hornets went on a 10-4 run to go up by 13 points with 11:07 left. Four different Lady Hornets scored during the run with Kyrstie Miller capping it with a three-pointer for a 49-36 lead.
Emporia State led 61-51 with 3:37 left on a Moten layup. Ft. Hays then got a jumper from Keriann Shaw and a three-pointer from Jill Faxon to cut the lead to five with 2:43 left. Jacee Kramer hit a jumper with shot clock winding down to put the lead back to seven with 2:12 left. Chelsea Mason scored for the Tigers with 1:58 left and was answered by an Addie Lackey lay-up with 1:29 left as the shot clock was again running down. Lehman hit a jumper with 1:15 left to make it 65-60. The Tigers got the ball back after a Lady Hornet turnover with a chance to cut the lead to three or two. Lehman's jumper was blocked by tournament Most Outstanding Player Merissa Quick, Moten pulled the rebound and was fouled. She hit one of two free throws to give the Lady Hornets a 66-60 lead with 33.1 seconds left. Lehman went to the line with 10.2 seconds left and hit one of two free throws to cut the lead to 66-61. Moten missed the front end of a one and one with 8.3 seconds left. The Tigers could not get a shot off quickly and turned the ball over with 4.4 seconds left. Emporia State returned the turnover with 2.3 left and Elle Stein's three pointer went out of bounds as the Lady Hornets advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since winning the National Championship in 2010.
Moten was joined in double figures by Kathryn Flott and Addie Lackey with 13 points each. Flott had ten rebounds as well. Quick had four points, five rebounds and four blocked shots. Lehman was the only Tiger in double figures, finishing with 27 points and five rebounds.
The Lady Hornets will take on West Texas A&M in the Elite Eight on Tuesday, March 24 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. It will be the seventh meeting between the Lady Hornets and Lady Buffs in the NCAA Tournament. The series is tied at 3-3 with all six previous meetings occuring in the South Central Regional tournament.
NOTES
Emporia State is now 35-15 in NCAA Tournament play and 6-6 in regional championship games.
The Lady Hornets are now 70-44 all-time against ranked teams with a 20-10 record in the NCAA Tournament.
Jory Collins is now 9-3 in NCAA Tournament games and 22-5 in his career in March post season games.
Merissa Quick's five rebounds put her over 900 in her career with 904 rebounds.
