The Emporia State women’s basketball team avenged a loss from earlier in the season, defeating Missouri Southern State Jan. 27, 71-61.
The Lady Hornets out-rebounded the Lions 36-27 with 27 defensive rebounds.
“That (defensive rebounding) was an emphasis coming out of halftime,” said Jory Collins, head coach. “We wanted to establish a low-post presence.”
After the first media timeout, the Lady Hornets trailed the Lions 11-9. A 11-2 run to finsh the quarter gave ESU a 20-13 advantage. Kelly Moten, junior guard, led ESU scorers with six points. ESU shot 5-12 in the first quarter. The Lions were 5-13 shooting in the first a 38.5 shooting percentage.
Southern outscored ESU 11-6 in the first 5:04 of the second quarter to pull within two of ESU. Kelsey Barnwell, senior guard, led ESU in scoring with six. ESU struggled shooting as they started the quarter 3-8, and turned the ball over twice.
At halftime, ESU led the Lions 31-27. The Lady Hornets only allowed Southern to score three points in the last 4:56 of the first half. The Lady Hornets shot 11 free throws, making eight, while Southern didn’t even attempt a free throw in the half.
The Lady Hornets also had five offensive rebounds. Moten co-led all scorers in the half with eight. Sandie Ngoie, senior forward, had a quiet but solid first half with six points and four rebounds. The Lady Hornets also had the lead for most of the half, leading 15:28.
ESU started the second half on a 7-0 run. The lions missed all six shots they attempted.With 4:46 remaining in the quarter, ESU led 43-34.
Both teams shot around the same field goal percentage but ESU had a commanding rebounding advantage in the second half, 14-7. ESU had 19 defensive rebounds for the game to that point.
“I thought it was good that we finished the second quarter off strong,” said Kelsey Barnwell.
After three quarters, the Lady Hornets pushed their lead to double digits with a 52-40 lead.
ESU’s rebounding advantage was almost at double digits with a 28-19 advantage. In addition, ESU was plus-eight in defensive rebounds with a 20-12 advantage.
Back to back threes by Southern brought the lead down from 14 points to eight and forced an ESU timeout with 6:57 remaining. The Lady Hornets continued to get low post position offensively which created easy scoring opportunities.
The Lions shot 3-8 from the foul line allowing ESU to push their lead to double digits and never looked back. The Lady Hornets led by as many as 17. Kathryn Flott, junior forward, led both the scoring and rebounding category with 16 and nine. ESU finished the night with 36 rebounds, 27 of them defensive.
“If they get an offensive rebound, that’s a second chance for them so we had to make sure and limit those,” Flott said.
ESU’s record improved to 17-4 (11-4) and tey will continue their season when Pittsburg State visits Emporia this Saturday at 3:30 pm.
