National Champions
By C.J. Moore
Originally published 08:07 p.m., March 26, 2010
Updated 12:43 a.m., March 27, 2010
ST. JOSEPH, MO. — Wipe that No. 15 away and replace it with a No. 1. The Emporia State Lady Hornets are National champions.
Emporia State beat Fort Lewis 65-53 on Friday night in front of a Emporia-heavy packed house at the Civic Arena to claim the school’s first-ever NCAA Division II title.
Alli Volkens continued her amazing postseason run with 16 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.
ESU led through most of the game, but Fort Lewis would not go away and took a 36-34 lead. Emporia State responded with a 14-4 run to take a 48-40 lead.
Volkens, the tournament MVP, started it with a turnaround in the lane and then gave ESU the lead with a putback of her own miss. Freshman guard Rachel Hanf, who scored 15 points, would finish the run with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Cassondra Boston scored 12 points in her final game, with eight points coming in the final two minutes. Brittney Miller scored eight points and had eight rebounds, and she joined Boston and Volkens on the All-Tournament team.
The Lady Hornets once again can credit their defense, which has been a big difference in their tournament run. They held Fort Lewis to 27.6 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers.
Emporia State finishes the season 30-5.
For complete details, reaction to the win and lots of photos, see Saturday's print or online pdf editions.
eucharistandcannabis (anonymous) says...
I'm one proud alum.
Congratulations Hornets!
March 26, 2010 at 9:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mslater (Matt Slater) says...
Fun game to watch! Good job ladies!
March 26, 2010 at 9:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
The game that won the national championship was the loss to Washburn. It's what you learn from games you lose that is the key to success, and not everyone get's all the headlines but, everyone on this team is a national champion. It was the uselfish teamwork and a coach that made every player feel that they were special. These girls taught me on thing-make everyday your masterpiece.
March 27, 2010 at 12:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Winning national championships is 90% mental and the other 50% is physical.
March 27, 2010 at 12:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
It was 11:30 before I calmed down enough to go to sleep last night. Way to go Lady Hornets! This is one very happy and proud ESU alum!
March 27, 2010 at 10:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
solong (anonymous) says...
Great job Emporia State, you took em all on and sent them home, they ran into a Hornet's nest. reddog, we need people like you in Washington, love the way you can get an extra 40% out of a game, can you do that with buget's too? 90% mental and 50% physical, only reddog.
March 27, 2010 at 11:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jamesbordonaro (James Bordonaro) says...
Tremendous accomplishment! That last minute and a half seemed to take forever. I just kept hoping that the Hornets would make their free throws and not turn the ball over.
See you ladies at the parade!
March 27, 2010 at 11:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
solong, I learned that from Yogi Berra who also said, "half of the lies they tell about me aren't true."
March 27, 2010 at 12:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
solong (anonymous) says...
reddog, I am sure you learned alot more than that from Yogi Berra.
March 27, 2010 at 2:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )