EC Kansas News

Emporia State fell to Lincoln 85-81 on Thursday night in White Auditorium.

At the beginning of the game, both teams started quickly as they traded points throughout much of the first quarter. The largest lead for the Lady Hornets came halfway through the first quarter following a fastbreak layup by Katie Horyna to put Emporia State ahead 11-7.

Lincoln responded to the Lady Hornets with an 11-2 scoring run as they built their largest lead with an 18-13 advantage over Emporia State. The Lady Hornets would trim the deficit as Lincoln held a 23-21 lead after the first quarter.

The Blue Tigers would score the opening points of the second quarter as they knocked down a three to extend their lead back to five points before the Lady Hornets scored
seven consecutive points to retake the lead 28-26 with 7:30 remaining in the first half.

Both teams would add another 15 points over the final seven minutes, including a layup from Audrey Beaty in the final seconds as the Lady Hornets took a 43-41 lead into the halftime break.

In the first half, Tre'Zure Jobe and Faith Paramore each scored 11 points to lead the Lady Hornets. Jobe also tallied seven first half steals as Emporia State forced 12 Blue Tiger turnovers.

Both teams were unable to build a large lead as the largest margin in the first half was five points by Lincoln.

Following the halftime break, the trend continued between the Lady Hornets and Blue Tigers as neither team could gain the upper hand with the Lady Hornets leading by as much as four on multiple occasions, including with 1:57 remaining in the third quarter following a driving layup from Stevie Stinchcomb to put Emporia State ahead 60-56 over Lincoln.

The Blue Tigers were able to score six of the final seven points in the quarter as they led 62-61 entering the fourth quarter.

After Lincoln knocked down a three to open the fourth quarter, a pair of layups from Stevie Stinchcomb and Katie Horyna tied the score 65-65. The Lady Hornets were unable to regain the lead as the Blue Tigers outscored Emporia State 13-6 as they opened a 78-71 lead, their largest of the game, with five minutes remaining.

The Lady Hornets responded with an 8-2 scoring run over the next two and a half minutes, capped off by a Victoria Price three as Lincoln held onto a one-point lead, 80-79.

After the Blue Tigers scored on the following possession, the Lady Hornets committed a turnover before Price forced a Lincoln turnover with her fourth steal of the game before finishing the play with a layup to cut the deficit back to 82-81 with 1:16 remaining.
With 40 seconds remaining, Lincoln knocked down a floater to give the Blue Tigers an 84-81 lead over the Lady Hornets, forcing Emporia State to call a timeout.

Emporia State turned the ball over following the timeout but were able to force another Lincoln turnover. The Lady Hornets were unable to convert following the steal as a pair of threes missed the mark, giving the Blue Tigers the ball back.

The Lady Hornets fouled the Blue Tigers with 8 seconds remaining and Lincoln was able to make 1 of 2 free throws to make the score 85-81 and Emporia State was unable to convert on either of their two last second opportunities as they fell to Lincoln 85-81.

Faith Paramore led four Lady Hornets in double figures with 18 points. Tre'Zure Jobe tallied 16 points and 8 steals on the defensive end while Katie Horyna and Audrey Beaty both reached double figures with 13 and 11 points respectively.

Emporia State will return to action on Saturday, January 7 as they take on Central Missouri. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 1:30 p.m. 

Original source can be found here.