KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Northeastern State could not recover from a fast start from Emporia State as the RiverHawks were eliminated from the MIAA Tournament in the opening round 72-58 on Wednesday afternoon.
The RiverHawks had four players in double-figures with
Grace Abercrombie and
Madina Camara leading the team with 14 points.
Courtney Lee scored 11 and
Emily Weathers posted ten.
"It's a tough pill to swallow I thought we competed hard. We didn't no-show, and they (Emporia State) made some tough shots. Sometimes that's part of life and part of basketball," said head coach
Keith Ferguson.
"You can't freak out early and you have to maintain the course. We got down 13 early and we cut it down to two or three a few different times but we just couldn't get over the hump. We weren't taking care of things, credit Emporia they made more plays than we did."
NSU shot 31 percent (18-58) from the field which was the fifth-lowest effort of the season. Heading into Wednesday's matchup, the RiverHawks when shooting below 38 percent won just one game of ten.
Northeastern State got off to a slow start and fell quickly behind Emporia 13-0. Despite 11 points off the bench from Abercrombie, shooting woes in the first half plagued the RiverHawks where they went 10-for-27 from the field. NSU went the final 4:43 in the second stanza without a made bucket and trailed the Lady Hornets 39-29 at the intermission.
Emporia State (14-15) quickly set the tone in the third quarter and opened the game with eight answered points. Cold shooting continued for the RiverHawks throughout the second half, making four buckets in each of the remaining stanzas.
The RiverHawks season concludes with a 14-15 overall mark, qualifying for its first postseason berth since 2018.
