No. 5 Emporia State clips Lions, 75-65

Box Score


EMPORIA, Kan. -- Junior G Marina Caran scored a career-high 22 points, but Missouri Southern's second-half comeback fell short in a 75-65 loss at No. 5 Emporia State Saturday (Feb. 25).

Even with the loss, the Lions own the No. 4 seed in the MIAA Postseason Tournament and play fifth-seeded Missouri Western Thursday afternoon (Mar. 2) at 2:30 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.  The Lady Hornets are the No. 2 seed and will face seventh-seeded Pittsburg State Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Lions trimmed a 19-point second-half deficit down to four with 9:49 remaining, but could get no closer. Caran scored 14 straight points over a span of 4:30 in the second half that brought Southern within six with 10:17 to play.

Junior F Dana-Mae Robbs hit a layup to make it 56-52, but ESU's Michelle Stueve hit back-to-back jumpers that made it an eight-point game with 8:12 to go.

The Lions wouldn't go away and came back to within five as freshman G/F Meghan Welch hit a trey that made it 65-60 with 2:52 left. That's as close as Southern could get as ESU nailed eight free throws over the final 1:53 to seal the victory.

Missouri Southern got off to a rough start as the Lady Hornets scored the first eight points of the contest and built a lead of 18-5 less than five minutes into the game.  

The Lady Hornets continued to expand the lead and led by sixteen at 28-12 on a three-pointer from Tegan Stuart just before the midpoint of the first period.

Southern scored 13 of the game's next 16 points and got within six after the third of three Welch threes in just over a minute. ESU ended the half by outscoring MSSU 17-8, including eight points from Stueve. The Lions trailed 48-33 at the half.

In addition to her career-high point total, Caran also dished out a team-high seven assists and hit a career-best 6-of-16 from three-point distance. As a team, Missouri Southern matched its season-best with 12-of-27 three-pointers.  

Welch scored 19 points and tied her career-high by connecting on 6-of-11 shots from beyond the arc. Sophomore G Robin Kantin added 10 points for the Lions.

Southern out-rebounded ESU 41-37 for the game and held the Lady Hornets to only 22.2 percent shooting (6-of-27) in the second half, including only 1-of-10 from beyond the arc. The 75 point total is nearly 10 points below their season average, which ranks first in the MIAA.

Stueve continued her outstanding play for the Lady Hornets by leading all scorers with 32 points and also pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds. Denisa Svarova and Andi McAlexander each tallied 10 points for ESU.
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