Augustyn Leads Emporia State over Washburn

By David Boyce

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The last three-pointer by Emporia State senior Jamie Augustyn hurt Washburn the most.

The Lady Blues spent most of the game climbing out of a first-half hole. With three minutes left they were within five points and still had hope.

Unafraid of the situation and the road crowd, Augustyn calmly drilled a three-pointer that gave Emporia State a comfortable eight-point lead.

It was more than enough for the Hornets to come away with a 54-47 victory Saturday evening at Lee Arena.

Emporia State solidified its hold on first place, improving to 15-1 overall and 8-1 in the MIAA. Washburn dropped its third game in a row and fell to 13-3 and 7-3.

"Oh no, it's not over," Augustyn said about the league race. "We still have another half. We still got a lot of games to play."

The Hornets, though, made a statement. The match-up was between two top-10 teams in NCAA Division II.

The Hornets proved they might be even a little better than their No. 6 ranking. Washburn, which entered the game ranked eighth, will probably slide out of the top 10.

The Lady Blues scored the first points of the game on a basket by Dayna Rodriguez.

Augustyn quickly answered with a three-pointer. It was another three-pointer by Augustyn that wiped away Washburn's last lead and put Emporia State up 6-5.

"I had to come into this game mentally prepared to shoot it because we knew they were going to do a really good job on (Cassondra) Boston," Augustyn said. "I had to step up and make some shots."

The trey also ignited a 10-0 run that gave the Hornets a 13-5 lead.  Emporia State extended its lead to 22-12 and went into halftime ahead 28-23.

"We felt like it was really important because we struggled here in the past," Emporia State coach Brandon Schneider said of the early lead. "And really, it has kind of been our M.O. all year long to get off to a slow start.

"We kind of felt our way through the first eight or nine minutes of a lot of games and found ourselves in a hole. That's something we talked a lot about this week. We tried to be a lot more assertive and a little more focused to start a ball game."

Washburn made runs and a couple of times closed to within one point. The first occurred with 11:11 left when Rodriguez hit a free throw, making it 38-37.

The Hornets answered that challenge with a three-pointer from Jocelyn Cummings.

Less than a minute later the Lady Blues again drew within one on a three-pointer by Stevi Schultz, closing to 41-40.

"We kept fighting," Washburn coach Ron McHenry said. "We got to within one point and they always made a run at us. We played hard. We couldn't get over the hump. We just couldn't finish when we needed to."

The Hornets went inside and scored on a layup from Negesti Taylor off an assist from Augustyn to push their lead back to three points.

It was simply Augustyn's night. Her biggest moment came with 3:29 left when she nailed a three-pointer that put the Hornets up 52-44.

"I was just doing what the coach told me to do; stay in the corner and if I get the ball and they backed off me, shoot it," Augustyn said. "We just ran the play."

The three-pointer appeared to zap the fight out of the Lady Blues, who scored only three points in the final three minutes.

"She made some key shots early and one to really stretch the lead late," Schneider said. "But we also need to look at the job she did on (Amanda) Fessenden. She had that defensive assignment. Jamie just played her guts out."

Augustyn finished with a team-high 13 points, making four of five three-pointers. Boston added 10 points. Emporia State also had four other players who scored at least six points.

It was pretty much a two-player scoring attack for Washburn. Rodriguez finished with a game-high 20 points and Schultz added 10. No other Lady Blue scored more than four.

To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.