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EMPORIA, Kan. – The Northeastern State women's basketball team took down No. 9 Emporia State 58-56 in overtime Thursday night inside White Auditorium.
 
The RiverHawks (10-11, 6-8 MIAA) were able to avenge a 69-36 home loss to the Lady Hornets (18-4, 11-4 MIAA) from earlier this season. NSU is now 4-2 against ESU since 2012-13, and the green and white has now beaten a ranked Lady Hornet squad each of the last three years. The victory also snapped NSU's six-game losing streak in overtime dating back to Jan. 6, 2011.
 
Northeastern State held Emporia State to its worst shooting output of the season at 27.1 percent (19-for-70) and its second-worst effort from behind the 3-point line at 17.2 percent (5-for-29). ESU also shot just 68.4 percent (13-for-19) at the free-throw line. This marks the second-straight season that the worst shooting game of the season for the Lady Hornets came at the hands of NSU.
 
Freshman forward Bria Pierce led the RiverHawks with 12 points, while junior forward Danielle Robertson contributed 10 points to the winning cause. Both players fouled out late in regulation. Senior guard Fontana Tate tallied eight points and nine rebounds, while junior guard Kate Bellamy posted nine points, five rebounds and a career-high five steals.
 
NSU shot 37 percent (20-for-54) from the field, 29.4 percent (5-for-17) from distance and 65 percent (13-for-20) at the free-throw line.
 
The RiverHawks took a 5-3 lead on a 3-point shot from senior guard Chelsey Beathard at the 17:26 mark of the first half, and they never trailed again. They continued to stretch their lead out and ended up taking a 32-21 advantage into the locker room. The 21 points for ESU was the fewest scored in either half against an MIAA opponent this year.
 
Northeastern State started the second half on an 11-0 run to pull ahead 43-21. The last time Emporia State trailed by as much as 22 points in any game came way back on Jan. 12, 2013 when Truman State led the Lady Hornets by 26 at one point.
 
NSU maintained its 22-point advantage up until the 13:25 mark (46-24), but ESU would not go down without a fight. The home team closed the half on a 27-5 run to send the contest into overtime.
 
Despite allowing the comeback, the RiverHawks regained their composure and held on for the two-point victory in overtime.
 
Kelly Moten paced ESU with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Merissa Quick added 17 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks.
 
Northeastern State will look to continue its momentum when the team travels to Topeka, Kansas, for a 5 p.m. tilt Feb. 14 against Washburn University.

NORTHEASTERN STATE COACH RANDY GIPSON
Initial Statement...
"To be able to beat a top-10 team on their home floor, what more can you say? This was a huge win for us. I've been like a broken record all season. We are defending well enough to play winning basketball, but our problem has been with our offense. We haven't been able to make shots, but tonight we were able to do that. I think that energized us on both ends of the floor. We got good contributions from everybody that played. This was a good win for RiverHawks nation and for NSU basketball. Hopefully this can propel us to a positive finish to the season."
 
On Emporia State's comeback…
"We knew (Emporia State) would come back on us. They're just too physical to keep out of the lane. Even when we were ahead by 20, I was wringing my hands when we missed a free throw or a shot that I thought we should make. That's a credit to them. I knew we would need every single point that we could get to beat this team. We were able to hold them off even though they came at us hard. We bent but we never totally broke, and I was happy to see that. It was impressive that we lost the lead but were able to win in overtime. Usually in that scenario it's tough to muster the energy to come back out and outplay your opponent in those five extra minutes, especially on the road."
 
On losing to Emporia State earlier in the year…
"(Emporia State) came into our place and beat us bad, but they had to hit a bunch of 3's late to get into the 60's against us. The feeble state of our offense was our biggest problem, but our defense was still good enough to win. You can't overestimate your team's psyche when you don't score. It wears you down when you have trouble scoring, but luckily we were able to hit shots tonight."
 
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