Box Score

Box score (HTML)  I  Box score (PDF)

EMPORIA, Kan. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team dropped an 80-61 decision to No. 7 Emporia State Wednesday night inside White Auditorium.
 
The RiverHawks fell to 10-11 on the year and 7-7 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, while the Lady Hornets (22-2, 13-2 MIAA) got revenge from their first loss of the season suffered at the hands of NSU earlier this year.
 
Freshman forward Mya Walker registered a season-best 20 points as she went 7-for-14 from the field and converted all six free-throw attempts. The performance was just the second time all season a member of the team reached 20 points in a game, with the first being junior guard Fontana Tate recording 23 in NSU's win over Emporia State on Jan. 22.
 
Northeastern State finished 21-for-53 (39.6 percent) from the field, 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from behind the three-point line and 17-for-19 (89.5 percent) at the free-throw line. The Lady Hornets were 26-for-64 (40.6 percent) overall, 8-for-20 (40 percent) from downtown and 20-for-27 (74.1 percent) at the charity stripe.
 
Merissa Quick finished with a game-high 23 points, Rheanna Egli added 15 and Desiree Wylie contributed 13 for the home team.
 
Egli hit a three-point basket at the 16:07 mark of the first half to give ESU a lead it would not relinquish. Emporia State led 34-27 at halftime and stretched its lead to a game-best 19 points by the end of regulation.
 
Northeastern State will return home for a 1:30 p.m. meeting Feb. 15 with Washburn in the 2014 WBCA Play 4 Kay Game.
 
Scoring Summary
Northeastern State   27      34        61
#7 Emporia State      34      46        80
 
NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH RANDY GIPSON
Opening Statement…
"I think we came ready to play. We ran into a team that played with a lot of energy tonight. Emporia State played very physical. Our lack of depth and size hurt us, and we couldn't stay with them on the boards. Our players hung in there and kept battling, and we had some good moments offensively. We just never played defensively or on the boards as well as we needed to.
 
On Mya Walker's performance…
"That was very encouraging. You can see her starting to emerge and understand what she needs to do to help us out. Her overall game is getting better. The ability to score is something we always felt like she could do for us. She's getting into the flow of the game better, and she's ready to take shots. She helped keep us in the game tonight, for sure.
 
On getting Jamie Jackson back from injury…
"She's not ready to give us big minutes yet because she has only practiced one day after missing three weeks. We had a five minute limit on her, but we were able to squeeze a couple more past that. Down the road, having her back will be a good thing for us. We know she has the capability of doing some good things. These next few games will be a good chance for her to work her way back in. We look forward to getting her back in game shape and conditioned, so hopefully she can have a good finish to the season."
 
On the next two home games…
"We always just take it one game at a time, so Washburn is the only team we're thinking about. We didn't show up to compete up there (when Washburn defeated NSU 60-37 on Feb. 25 in Topeka, Kan.). We feel like we can play a lot better than that. They're a tough team with a lot of size, so that will be a challenge for us."
 
-GoRiverHawksGo.com-