CANYON, TEXAS — Watching Cassondra Boston operate on Saturday night, it’s no surprise the Emporia State women are where they will be tonight: playing for the South Central Regional championship against Northeastern State.
Boston and her three fellow senior guards were just too cool under pressure in Saturday night’s 76-69 upset win of top seed West Texas A&M. The ESU seniors had an answer every time the game got tight. Boston, Jamie Augustyn and Sophia Lenard made eight straight free throws in the final minute to put the game away, and their poise and unwillingness to see their careers end was the perfect mix to pull off an upset in front of 2,586 at WT’s First United Bank Center.
No example of Boston’s composure is better than what she did in the most important moment of the game, when West Texas A&M’s Jamie Simmons, who scored 30 points, was leading a one-woman comeback effort and had cut what had once been a 13-point lead to three.
With the WT crimson clad faithful screaming and trying to will their team to a comeback win, Boston calmly dribbled on the wing. She waited for Negesti Taylor’s ball screen, and just like she’s done all season, Boston rubbed her defender off Taylor and stepped back, and with 1:29 left, she drained a momentum-killing 3-pointer as easily as if it were an unguarded pregame jumper.
“Cassondra is an All-American, and I wouldn’t trade her for any point guard in the country,” Hornets coach Brandon Schneider said. “Those are plays that she is capable of making, and it’s come to the point that those are plays we expect her to make, and she made a big shot there.”
Augustyn, Lenard and Lacy Corker also helped stave off any WT comebacks.
Augustyn made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half that pushed ESU’s lead to 12 after WT had trimmed it to six. She also made two free throws in the final minute.
Lenard scored 13 points off the bench, providing steady ballhandling — she did not commit a turnover — and also making a pair of free throws at the end.
Corker scored only four points, but she hit a runner off the glass with 6:04 left that ended a Lady Buffs 4-0 mini-run.
“They’re all leaders on our team and make sure that we don’t fragment,” junior Alli Volkens said. “They keep us together and I think that’s really important coming down the stretch.”
Volkens’ importance in the first two games of the Regional cannot be understated as well. West Texas A&M tried fronting Volkens and tried playing behind her, and they couldn’t stop her either way. She scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting.
Volkens scored 21 points in the first round win over Tarleton State, and her ability to score has given the ESU guards more room to operate and given the Lady Hornets an inside-outside balance they were missing late in the season.
“Alli’s a good player, and it’s just getting her the ball,” Boston said. “When we execute and are patient and get the ball in to her when she’s open, she can score. As long as we keep getting the ball to her, she’s going to keep scoring.”
The Lady Hornets also benefited greatly from getting to the free throw line, where they made 30 of 36, compared to 9 of 17 for WT.
“Obviously free throws are important in a game like this,” Boston said. “We had people step up and make them. We have four seniors, and we know the importance of making free throws.”
Boston made all 13 of her free throw attempts and finished with a team-high 21 points, which has become the norm for her.
Yet it was clear when Emporia State (26-5) lost three of five before the Regional that Boston could not do it alone. In two tournament games, Boston’s teammates have stepped up offensively, the Lady Hornets have played two great defensive games, and now the four seniors are one step from their first Elite Eight.
“No one wants their careers to end,” Volkens said. “We’re playing hard. We’re playing for them.”
Saturday at Canyon, Texas
Emporia State 76, West Texas A&M 69
Emporia State 35 41 — 76
West Texas A&M 27 42 — 69
EMPORIA STATE (26-5)
Boston 3-12 13-13 21, Volkens 8-10 3-4 19, Lenard 4-9 5-7 13, Augustyn 2-3 4-4 10, Corker 1-2 2-2 4, Cummings 1-3 2-2 4, Miller 1-1 1-4 3, Ferrell 1-1 0-0 2, Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Hanf 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-42 30-36 76.
WEST TEXAS A&M (30-4)
Simmons 15-26 0-4 30, Unruh 6-11 3-5 15, Schniederjan 3-4 0-0 9, Johnson 2-7 2-2 6, Sherman 0-0 4-6 4, Isaacs 1-4 0-0 3, McLain 1-7 0-0 2, Leven 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 9-17 69.
3-point goals — Emporia State 4-12 (Boston 2-6, Augustyn 2-3, Lenard 0-3), West Texas A&M 4-10 (Schniederjan 3-4, Isaacs 1-3, McLain 0-1, Unruh 0-2). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; West Texas A&M: McLain. Rebounds — Emporia State 36 (Miller 8), West Texas A&M 27 (Simmons 12). Assists — Emporia State 12 (Boston 6), West Texas A&M 17 (Isaacs 7). Total fouls — Emporia State 22, West Texas A&M 29. Att. — 2,586.