EMPORIA, Kan. – Northeastern State had four players in double figures but it was a tale of two halves as they surrendered a 21-point lead and suffered a 63-57 road setback to Emporia State.
The RiverHawks (4-4, 1-2 MIAA) who led for over 33 minutes made six buckets in the second half to drop their 12 consecutive to the Lady Hornets.
Courtney Lee was two rebounds short of a double-double and paced NSU with 13 points.
Halie Jones and
Tess Talo Tomokino had 12 points and
Tor'e Alford added 11 points.
Northeastern State blew the gates open in the first half shooting 57.1 percent from the field and taking advantage of a stone-cold 20 minutes by the Lady Hornets where they shot 5-for-29. A 12-2 NSU run between the quarters for the RiverHawks with Emporia State missing nine consecutive buckets in a five-minute stretch allowed for a 40-22 lead at the intermission.
Emporia State (5-3, 3-0 MIAA) opened the second half with nine unanswered points and trimmed the lead back down to single digits. The Lady Hornets continued to push NSU and a run of 15 unanswered points gave them a 55-53 lead heading into the game's final five minutes. NSU would pull even one last time with Lee hitting a driving layup with 2:13 left but it would be the team's final made bucket of the night. Northeastern State would shoot 2-for-11 in the final ten minutes of the game with Emporia State completing the game on a 25-6 run.
The RiverHawks committed 19 turnovers on the night as the Lady Hornets controlled the offensive glass 14-to-5 and outscored NSU by 14 on second-chance points. They return to action on Wednesday where NSU will make the short trek to Claremore to face Rogers State at 5:30 p.m. in continued MIAA action.
