The Emporia State basketball teams earned a sweep over Pittsburg State on Wednesday night at White Auditorium in Emporia.
The Lady Hornets earned the first Top 25 win in the Brian Ostermann era with a 71-59 upset of the #25 Gorillas. ESU used an 11-2 run early to take a 13-8 lead in the first quarter. ESU scored the last five points of the first half to lead 33-24 at the break, then parleyed that into a 19-4 run by stapling it to a 9-2 run to begin the second half and taking a 46-30 lead midway through the third quarter. Pitt State didn’t go away ripping off a 19-6 run to get within 52-49 with just over seven and a half to go, but ESU used a 9-0 run late to retake a double-digit lead with less than three minutes to play and held off the PSU comeback. Head coach Brian Ostermann was proud of how his team handled the big game situation.
Katie Horyna led the Lady Hornets in scoring for the third-straight game with 17 points while Gracie Gilpin and Faith Paramore each added six. Paramore also added 12 rebounds for a double-double while Queen Ulabo also pulled in 15 rebounds with 10 points for her own double-double. Gilpin also primarily guarded Pitt State’s leading scorer Grace Pyle and held her to three points. She came into the game averaging 18 but Gilpin said it was a team effort.
The Lady Hornets improve to 9-7, 6-4 in the MIAA with the win.
Meanwhile the Hornet men ended a three-game losing streak with a 70-61 win over the Gorillas. ESU led for all but 27 seconds of the game and led 32-24 at the break, but Pitt State opened the second half on a 6-0 run. After holding PSU to under 35% shooting in the first half, Pitt State shot just under 47% in the second half, but the Hornet defense held firm late and ended the game with seven consecutive defensive stops and a 7-0 run over the last 4:06 of the game. Head coach Craig Doty said ending the losing slide was big.
Solomon Oraegbu led the way with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting. He said the team showed big improvement defensively in the game.
Alijah Comithier and Owen Long each added 13 points with five assists against just two turnovers while Atavian Butler scored 11. ESU improves to 12-6 and 5-5 in the MIAA. ESU returns to action Sunday to face Missouri Southern. Coverage begins with the RV Doc Pregame Show at 1:00 p.m. on Mix 104.9. Listen online at KVOE.com/listen or via the Audacy app.
