Kansas City, MO - Emporia State held Washburn to .188 shooting in the second half on the way to a 61-52 victory in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals. With the win, ESU will advance to the MIAA Tournament Championship game against Northwest Missouri on Sunday at 4 p.m.
ESU jumped out to a 9-3 lead early and led 19-11 with 9:20 left in the half. WU then went on a 14-3 run to take a 25-22 lead with 3:16 remaining in the period.
Cassie Lombardino scored a traditional three-point play to open the second half and give the Lady Blues their largest lead of the night at 35-26 with 19:46 left in the game.
The Lady Hornets then went on a 10-2 run of their own capped by a pair of free throws from Alli Volkens. WU would go back up 43-38 with 14:12 remaining when ESU went on a 14-0 run to take the lead for good.
Rheanna Egli had the first five of the run and Alli Volkens added six points to force the Lady Blues into a zone.
Rachel Hanf then hit back to back three pointers to give ESU a ten point lead at 55-45 with 8:09 left in the game. WU wasn’t finished however and answered with a 7-0 run to pull within 55-52 on two free throws from Laura McMullin with 4:49 left. That would be the last time the Lady Blues scored in the game as ESU forced WU into missing their final eight shots of the night. Jocelyn Cummings and Rheanna Egli would each go two for two from the line in the final 4:27 to ice the second straight win over WU for the the Lady Hornets.
Volkens led ESU with 18 points, ten rebounds and five blocks for her 24th double-double of the year. Balcom had 16 points, 12 in the first half, and nine rebounds for ESU.
The Lady Hornets will take on #22 Northwest Missouri on Sunday in the MIAA Tournament Championship game. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.
