The Emporia State basketball teams were swept by Northwest Missouri in their MIAA openers at Bearcat Arena in Maryville, Mo. on Thursday.
In the women’s game, the Lady Hornets battled back from a 19-point third quarter deficit but fell 77-69 to the Bearcats in overtime. ESU trailed 19-16 after the first frame but went cold missing 11 of 12 shots in the second, but E-State stayed in the game thanks to holding the ‘Cats to just seven points in the frame. ESU came out cold in the second half and was scoreless over the first three minutes but ended up shooting over 60% from the field after halftime. ESU was down by 19 with just over three minutes to go in the third but found an 8-0 run over the final 65 seconds of the frame to get within 10 to end the period. Kaitlyn Sanders and Gracie Gilpin hit back-to-back three’s to tie the game at 60, but Northwest answered. Katiya Casey hit a layup to re-tie the game with seven seconds to go and ESU got a stop to force overtime. ESU was outscored 15-7 in the extra frame as Northwest went 10-14 from the charity stripe in the extra session. Head coach MJ Baker was astounded by the number of free throws that Northwest attempted in just five minutes.
ESU didn’t help themselves finishing just 13-for-27 from the free throw line. Sanders scored a career-high 26. Macey Gandee scored 14 points and had a career-high five blocks. ESU (4-3, 0-1 MIAA) had its four-game winning streak snapped in the loss.
In the men’s game, ESU didn’t lead after the first five minutes of the game and fell 77-70 to Northwest. Neither team had a run of more than nine points in the game as Northwest built a 41-35 lead at the break. The Bearcats led by as many as 14 with just over 12 to go. ESU found a 10-1 run in the final minute of the game to get within four, but couldn’t get any closer. For head coach Tom Billeter, it was another frustrating single-digit loss.
Andrew Pengel led ESU with 23 points while Chris Harris and Treyvon Taylor added 16 apiece. ESU (2-5, 0-1 MIAA) hosts Missouri Western on Saturday. Coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. with the doubleheader tipping at 1:30 p.m. on Mix 104.9.
