Tarleton State and West Texas A&M both dropped their opening round games of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball South Central Regional at Lee Arena in Topeka, Kan.
Emporia State 64, Tarleton State 56
Despite a hard-fought second-half rally, the Tarleton TexAnns' season came to an end Friday night in the opening round of the NCAA South Central regional tournament to the hands of postseason rival, Emporia State, 64-56 at Lee Arena on the campus of Washburn University.
This marks the fourth time Tarleton has lost to Emporia in the four meetings since 1997 and the third straight loss to the Hornets in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
"First all, I'd like to congratulate Emporia State, they certainly have a good team," said Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne. "However, I don't think they got anything close to our best tonight for whatever reasons."
"Kiara (Wright) being in foul trouble certainly hurt us," he continued. "We battled to take a lead in the second half then missed some open shots and they took it back. I'm very proud of this team and I will say, we didn't lose because we didn't play hard."
Tarleton got the scoring started when Shelby Adamson drove the lane and drew a foul just 28 seconds into the contest. The senior hit both to put Tarleton on top 2-0.
After a Peyton Adamson jumper gave the TexAnns a 4-1 lead, they ran into some trouble when Kiara Wright was called for her second foul just 2:20 into the contest. She came out and would not return over the rest of the half.
The TexAnns pushed their lead to a slim 10-9 margin before ESU struck for an 11-4 run to lead 20-14 with 10 minutes left in the half.
Tarleton drained four straight free throws to pull within three, but Emporia State extended its lead back to 31-23 with four to go.
Peyton Adamson answered with a triple to bring the Tarleton deficit to five and that's where it stayed going into the break as Tarleton trailed at halftime 33-28.
Out of the break, Wright hit the first bucket of the half and appeared to give the TexAnns a boost but was once again forced to the bench after drawing her fourth personal foul just 3:33 into the second half.
After ESU extended its lead to 39-30 with just over 16 to go, Lisa Parker drained a 3-ball from the top of the key to start a 6:05, 14-3 run to give Tarleton its first lead of the second half at 44-42.
ESU responded with a 15-6 run over the next six minutes to lead 58-48. Over that stretch, Tarleton struggled to keep anything going offensively with four turnovers and five missed shots. The TexAnns did manage to pull it to 58-52 with a Wright layup and a pair of Peyton free throws with 1:51 left.
The TexAnns were forced to foul over the final minute as Emporia went on to claim the win.
Cheyenne Berry led the scoring for Tarleton with 12 points off the bench while Shelby had 10. Peyton added nine while Shanae Lowrance added eight.
Tarleton shot just 33 percent from the floor and 25 percent from the 3-point line while ESU was 35 percent from the floor and 33 percent from beyond the arc.
This game also marked the final game for Tarleton's senior class of Shelby Adamson, Tara Towns, Morgan Stehling and Lisa Parker, who will go down in TexAnn history as the all-time winningest senior class in Tarleton's NCAA history.
ESU will advance to play No. 1 seed Washburn in the second round Saturday.
Washburn 68, West Texas A&M 36
The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs’ 2011-12 season came to an end in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship on Saturday, falling 68-36 to the No. 1-seeded Washburn Lady Blues at Lee Arena in Topeka, Kan.
The Lady Blues used a 12-1 run to end the first half and then a 12-2 run to open the second half, which helped put Washburn well ahead midway through the contest. The Lady Buffs conclude its season with a 19-10 overall record and Washburn improves to 29-4 overall. The Lady Blues move onto the semifinal round and will face the winner of Tarleton State/Emporia State tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
Washburn’s Dana Elliott scored went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc and led the Lady Buffs with 13 points at the break, as WU took a 32-18 lead into the locker room at the half. The Lady Blues shot 39.4 percent from the floor, scored 11 points off turnovers and tallied 14 points on second-chances to secure the 14-point lead.
WT traded baskets with the Lady Blues over the first four minutes of the game, but WU reeled-off an 8-0 run and led 12-4 with 12:36 left in the half. The Lady Buffs ended the run with a 6-2 run of its own and just trailed 14-10 at the 9:35 mark, but WU came right back with consecutive buckets to increase its lead to 18-10 with 8:00 left.
Another 6-2 run pulled WT back within three points of the Lady Blues, down 20-17 with 4:17 left to play, but the Lady Buffs would not get another field goal over the final 4:17 of the first period and WU closed out the final four minutes with a 12-1 run and all of its points coming on three-pointers.
The Lady Buffs shot 26.7 percent from the floor, but were just 1-for-4 from the free throw line. Ashley Leven (Sr-3L, Amarillo, Texas) led the Lady Buffs at break with seven points, while Kenisha Harris (So-1L, Brock, Texas) pulled down a team-high four rebounds. Joni Unruh (Sr-3L, Amarillo, Texas) led the team with two steals and a pair of assists.
The Lady Blues pushed its lead to 22 points opening the second half with an 8-0 run before WT ended the run with a pair of free throws from Devin Griffin (So-TR, Lubbock, Texas) at the 17:04 mark. The Lady Buffs would finally end its run going without a field goal at the 14:11 mark when Lacee Logan (So-1L, Sudan, Texas) hit a three-pointer from the right corner to make it a 46-25 game in favor of the Lady Blues.
Down 46-27 with 13:25 left to play, WU went on a 6-2 run to push its lead to 50-29 before Leven’s free throw made it a 52-20 game at the 9:59 mark. That would be as close as the Lady Buffs would get as WU followed with a 9-0 run to push its lead to 30 points, up 60-30 with less than seven minutes to play. Both teams would trade points over the final 6:48 and WU would come out on top with the 32-point victory.
Griffin and Leven led the team with eight points each and Chon White (Fr-HS, Dallas, Texas) followed with six points. Griffin and Unruh led the Lady Buffs with seven rebounds, while Unruh tallied a team-high four steals.
Washburn crashed the boards this evening, out-rebounding the Lady Buffs 51-37 and managed to score 16 second chance points to WT’s 12 points.
The Lady Buffs lose just three seniors to graduation this season and will return nine letter winners from this year’s team. Head coach Krista Gerlich will head into the 2012-13 campaign needing just two wins to record her 150th career win.