Emporia State Defeats Michigan Tech to Move On

By David Boyce

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- During the regular season, Emporia State junior center Alli Volkens showed flashes of domination in the paint. She hit her stride at the South Central Regional.

She put it all together in the biggest game of her collegiate career Tuesday night against Michigan Tech in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight at the St. Joseph Civic Arena.

Volkens scored a career-high 28 points, leading Emporia State to a 91-85 victory over Michigan Tech.

The win puts Emporia State, 28-5, in the Final Four against undefeated Gannon at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Gannon is 37-0 and ranked No. 1 in Division II.

“I think records this time of the year aren’t important,” Volkens said. “We have five losses. Obviously, we would like to give them their first loss.”

Will Volkens have another masterpiece in her?

Volkens’s post moves against Michigan Tech were on a near artistic level. She spun and scored. She posted up and scored. She pump faked and scored. Whatever move she showed against the Huskies resulted in a basket.

“It felt overwhelming,” Volkens said of her performance. “I had no idea those were the numbers I had until somebody told me in the locker room. It’s a crazy feeling.”

Volkens even stepped back a few feet and knocked down a couple of 15-foot jumpers.

“Alli just had a great night tonight,” Emporia State senior Cassondra Boston said. “We were talking about that in the locker room. ‘Alli, you just hit a couple of jump shots.’ It was just her night tonight. She was on.”

Volkens made 10 of 11 shots from the field and was 8 for 10 from the free throw line.

When Volkens made one of her baskets with about six minutes left, it looked like the Hornets had a big enough cushion. The field goal gave Emporia State a 70-59 lead.

But Michigan Tech entered the game with only two losses and weren’t about to give in. The Huskies started five seniors. And they all scored in double figures.

“Obviously, I’m really proud of our guys because we just beat a really good team with five seniors,” Emporia State coach Brandon Schneider said. “They were so smart. I thought they were going to make every shot for a little while.”

Michigan Tech quickly whittled its deficit to five at 71-66.

The Hornets answered the challenge. Sophia Lenard drilled a three-pointer in the corner that gave Emporia State a 74-66 lead with 4:33 left.

“Sophia Lenard and Allie Volkens I thought were just outstanding in the second half,” Schneider said.

For just about the rest of the game Emporia State maintained a 6-to-8 point lead.

As well as Volkens played, the Hornets got key contributions from every player who stepped on the court. Lenard hit important shots and finished with 22. Cassondra Boston nailed free throws and scored 19 points.

“We are disappointed in not getting the win tonight,” Michigan Tech coach John Barnes said. “We hung our hats on defense all year. I thought Emporia had a great game plan coming in and executed it very well and made shots.

“Every time we made a run they hit a big three or got a three-point play. I knew it was going to be a tough game coming in.  I was hoping our experience would get us over the hump.

“We ran into a very good team, a very hot team. Sometimes you got to be lucky and not run into a hot team.”

Although Emporia State went into halftime with a small 37-35 deficit, the Hornets played well throughout the first half. They never looked tight. They were ready to take on Michigan Tech.

The game started with senior Lacy Corker taking the ball strong to the basket for a layup and giving Emporia State a 2-0 lead.

Michigan Tech quickly responded with a three-pointer by Danae Danen. And that’s pretty much how the first half went. There were 11 lead changes in the first half.

“They couldn’t miss at the beginning of the game,” Boston said. “I kept saying we got to get a stop, we got to get a stop. We kept scoring and so did they. It came down to getting stops and not letting them score every single time down the floor.”

It was clear Emporia State was on top of its game offensively. The Hornets shot a blistering 57 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.

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