Jennies upset No. 3 Hornets, 63-60

The Central Missouri State Jennies did it with defense as they went into White Auditorium and knocked off the third-ranked Emporia State Hornets, 63-60 on Saturday night. CMSU held Emporia to a season-low 60 points and a 0-for-16 performance from three-point land.

It is the second time in as many tries that the Jennies (16-7, 8-4 MIAA) have beaten the Hornets (21-2, 9-2 MIAA) on the road and the fifth consecutive win for head coach Dave Slifer in Emporia.

The opening period was played with a combination of good defense and sloppy offense with 15 turnovers for Central Missouri and 13 for Emporia State. The Hornets opened an early lead and built it to as much as 10 points but the Jennies fought back with a 10-0 run to tie it at 18. The teams traded buckets the rest of the way and went into the break at 23-23. Melissa Richardson topped the Jennies with nine points while Denisa Svarova paced ESU with eight in the half.

The Hornets took the early advantage in the second stanza at 33-27 but CMSU again showed what they were made of with a 10-2 run. The game saw nine ties and five lead changes but the Jennies grabbed the lead for good at the 12:02 mark. They pushed their lead to as much as seven with 4:12 to play but Emporia State made them sweat.

With 49 seconds to play, Tegan Stuart knocked the ball away from CMSU to teammate Michelle Stueve, who scored in transition to make it a one-point game. Kara Rewerts missed the CMSU attempt to extend the lead with 21 seconds remaining but a turnover by Stuart on the other end gave the ball back to the Jennies. Rewerts was fouled with 12 seconds on the clock and calmly hit both free throws to put the Jens up by three. Stuart's three-point attempt with five seconds remaining was off and the long rebound wasn't recovered in time for another shot before the buzzer.

The Jennies shot 65.2 percent in the second half with 24 of their points coming in the paint and seven from the free-throw line. The Hornets hit 42.3 percent from the field and went 15-of-15 from the line in the period.

Central Missouri was led by Richardson with eight rebounds and a season-high 19 points while Tiffany Vincent scored 12 of her 16 in the second half. Lindsey Maple also hit double-figures with 13 points and led the Jennies with four steals.

Emporia was paced by Stueve with a game-high 21 points while Casey Henningsen and Svarova had 12 and 10, respectively.