By NSU Media Services

CANYON, Texas – Northeastern State’s dream of reaching the NCAA Division II Elite Eight came to an abrupt end Monday night at the First United Bank Center at West Texas A&M.

Emporia State used a 20-4 run midway the first half and exploded for five 3-pointers in the opening six minutes of the second half en route to a 76-45 win over Northeastern State in the South Central Regional Women’s Championship game.

“I thought early in the game we had some opportunities to score and we didn’t take advantage of a couple of situations,” said Northeastern State head coach Randy Gipson, whose team finishes the season 28-7. “We missed a couple of open shots that could have got us through it. I think there comes a time you tip your hat to the other people. They played a phenomenal game. Their athleticism and size hurt us. They defended extremely well. We had trouble sustaining our offense.”

The RiverHawks’ Jessica White, who was named to the all-tournament team, led NSU in scoring with 15 points.  Alix Perkins followed with nine points.

“This season has been an enjoyable one and I told them (teammates) at the end of the game I wouldn’t want to lose by 31 points with any other team,” said White. “We still had a great year. It was the most enjoyable team I have ever been on.”

Northeastern State, who had every shot contested by the much taller Lady Hornets was held to just 27 percent from the field (17-of-63) including just 2-of-23 from behind the arc. Freshman Tosha Tyler was the only RiverHawk to score from behind the 3-point line.

Emporia State, ranked 15th in the country, shot 47 percent (26-of-55) with double-digit scoring efforts by Jamie Augustyn, Brittney Miller and Lenard Sophia, whom each had 12 points each. Cassondra Boston, who was named the tournament’s MVP, added 11 points, go along with her seven assists.

The RiverHawks, who have trailed at the half in all three South Central Regional clashes, battled back  but could not turn the trick this time. Northeastern was down 13 points against the Lady Hornets 30-17 at the break.

That was the closest the RiverHawks came the remainder of the contest as Emporia open the final 20 minutes of play with two three-point baskets, one each by Miller and Lacy Coker, giving the Lady Hornets a comfortable 19-point advantage 36-17 with 19:05 left.

“The start of the second half did not start well for us when they hit the two threes right off the bat,” said Gipson. “We were then playing more catch-up than we could handle.”

Emporia State then drained three more treys over the next four minutes to put the game out of reach for the RiverHawks taking a commanding 49-25 lead with 15:09 remaining.

Emporia State continued to increase its advantage the rest of the way, surging to its largest leads of the game twice 35 points, the first at 3:59 a 70-35 lead and the final with 2:27 remaining 74-39.

The RiverHawks held the lead only one time in the game and that came in the first half, 6-5 on an Alix Perkins layup with 16:23 left.

Emporia State (27-8) will advance to the Elite Eight on March 23 in St. Joseph, Mo., representing the South Central Regional.

Emporia State 76, NSU 45

Emporia State    30    46    –    76

NSU                   17    28    –    45

Emporia State (27-5): Jamie Augustyn 12, Sophia Lenard 12, Brittney Miller 12, Cassondra Boston 11, Lacy Corker 9, Alli Vokens 8, Jocelyn Cummings 4, Ashley Ferrell 4, Negesti Taylor 2, Kelsey Newman 2

NSU (28-7): Jessica White 15, Alex Perkins 9, Jasmine Webb 5, Tosha Tyler 6, Megan Fraley 4, Cristy Nitz2, Sarah Millar 2, Kendra Dean 2.