Women's Basketball Recap
Emporia State-81, Truman-69
The Bulldogs played with the fourth-ranked Emporia State Lady Hornets for much of the game, but a large run by the visitors to end the first-half was the difference in an 81-69 Emporia State win.
Truman came out on fire, opening up a 15-6 lead at the first media timeout. The Hornets answered after the timeout with an 8-0 spurt, but the Bulldogs kept the lead until just over seven minutes remained in the half. Emporia State, down 22-21 at that point, scored 17 of the next 22 points to take a double-digit lead. The Lady Hornets would end up going into the break up 40-30.
The final half was very evenly played. The Bulldogs cut the lead to six early in the period but could never get any closer. Emporia State could never completely put Truman away, either, never leading by more than 13 points until the final few minutes.
The difference in the game was field goal shooting, as the Lady Hornets shot 49.1% from the field, compared to just a 33.3% for Truman. The Bulldogs won the rebounding battle 44-35 and the rest of the stats were similar for the two teams.
Sarah Sommer led Truman with 18 points and she also collected eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals. Emily Turnbull was in double-figures with 13 points and Adri Tromp led the team with nine rebounds.
Four Emporia State players hit double-figures, led by Miklannet Tennal who came off the bench to score 19 points. Janel McNeal just missed a double-double with 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Nicole Patry added 16 points and six assists and Andri McAlexander had 14 points.
Men's Basketball Recap
Emporia State-84, Truman-72
Truman kept the top scoring offense in the MIAA in check for 15 minutes, but the Hornets eventually got things going and left Pershing Arena with a 84-72 victory over the Bulldogs.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first-half. Truman led 24-22 with 4:35 remaining in the half. Emporia State hit its final seven field goal attempts of the half from that point and took a 38-34 lead into the break. Prior to that outburst by the Hornets, they were shooting just 30.4% from the field.
Emporia State didn't cool down at the break as it came out and shot 54.5% from the field in the second-half. A 13-4 run early in the half gave the team an 11-point advantage and the Hornets were able to keep the double-digit lead for the majority of the final half. As in past games, fouls again hurt Truman in the second-half as Emporia State went to the free throw line 26 times, compared to just once for the Bulldogs.
For the game, Emporia State shot 50% from the field, 40% from beyond the arc and 73.7% from the free throw line. The Bulldogs managed to shot just 40% from the field and 11.8% from three-point range. Truman's post players shot 52.3% from the field but the guards hit just 22.6% of their field goal attempts. The Bulldogs did hit 83.3% of their free throw attempts and won the rebounding battle by a 40-36 margin.
Truman wasted a season-best effort by Matt Beran, who had a double-double by halftime. He ended the game with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Post players Grant Agbo and Andy Calmes also scored in double-figures and Austin Kirby had a team-high six assists.
The Hornets were led by Demond Perris with 16 points and eight rebounds. Tony Travis also scored 16 points and recorded six assists. Aaron Shaw came off the bench to score 14.