The fourth-ranked team in Division II women’s basketball met the fourth-ranked team in Division I Tuesday night in Waco, Texas as the Hornets fell in a hard-fought contest to the Baylor Bears, 89-60.
Emporia State scored the first points of the game and led 8-5 with 6:59 remaining in the first quarter. Baylor went on a 6-0 run to take an 11-8 lead with 5:07 left and would build a 21-10 advantage with 57 seconds left in the opening period.
The Bears extended the margin to 18 points with 1:17 remaining before the break.
In the waning seconds of the half, the Hornets shortened the gap with a 10-0 spurt. Addie Lackey, junior guard, started the run with a pair of free throws with 40.2 seconds on the clock, and as the rest of the team knocked down open shots to get the score to 43-35 at halftime.
The Hornets opened the second half with a three-pointer and a field goal to extend their run to 15-0. Emporia State pulled within 45-43 with 8:10 remaining in the third.
Baylor scored the first four points of the fourth to go up 64-52 before Lackey hit a three pointer with 8:45 left. That would be the last score for the Hornets until Kathryn Flott, senior forward, connected on her first three-pointer of the night with 2:29 remaining. The Bears scored 20 points during the ESU drought to take control of the game.
The Emporia State women will open the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 12 against Southwest Oklahoma State in White Auditorium. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
