- Box Score

TOPEKA, KS. – Despite a hard-fought second-half rally, the Tarleton TexAnns' season came to an end Friday night in the opening round of the NCAA South Central regional tournament to the hands of postseason rival, Emporia State, 64-56 at Lee Arena on the campus of Washburn University.
 
This marks the fourth time Tarleton has lost to Emporia in the four meetings since 1997 and the third straight loss to the Hornets in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.
 
"First all, I'd like to congratulate Emporia State, they certainly have a good team," said Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne. "However, I don't think they got anything close to our best tonight for whatever reasons.
 
"Kiara (Wright) being in foul trouble certainly hurt us," he continued. "We battled to take a lead in the second half then missed some open shots and they took it back. I'm very proud of this team and I will say, we didn't lose because we didn't play hard."
 
Tarleton got the scoring started when Shelby Adamson drove the lane and drew a foul just 28 seconds into the contest. The senior hit both to put Tarleton on top 2-0.
 
After a Peyton Adamson jumper gave the TexAnns a 4-1 lead, they ran into some trouble when Kiara Wright was called for her second foul just 2:20 into the contest. She came out and would not return over the rest of the half.
 
The TexAnns pushed their lead to a slim 10-9 margin before ESU struck for an 11-4 run to lead 20-14 with 10 minutes left in the half.
 
Tarleton drained four straight free throws to pull within three, but Emporia State extended its lead back to 31-23 with four to go.
 
Peyton Adamson answered with a triple to bring the Tarleton deficit to five and that's where it stayed going into the break as Tarleton trailed at halftime 33-28.
 
Out of the break, Wright hit the first bucket of the half and appeared to give the TexAnns a boost but was once again forced to the bench after drawing her fourth personal foul just 3:33 into the second half.
 
After ESU extended its lead to 39-30 with just over 16 to go, Lisa Parker drained a 3-ball from the top of the key to start a 6:05, 14-3 run to give Tarleton its first lead of the second half at 44-42.
 
ESU responded with a 15-6 run over the next six minutes to lead 58-48. Over that stretch, Tarleton struggled to keep anything going offensively with four turnovers and five missed shots. The TexAnns did manage to pull it to 58-52 with a Wright layup and a pair of Peyton free throws with 1:51 left.
 
The TexAnns were forced to foul over the final minute as Emporia went on to claim the win.
 
Cheyenne Berry led the scoring for Tarleton with 12 points off the bench while Shelby had 10. Peyton added nine while Shanae Lowrance added eight.
 
Tarleton shot just 33 percent from the floor and 25 percent from the 3-point line while ESU was 35 percent from the floor and 33 percent from beyond the arc.
 
This game also marked the final game for Tarleton's senior class of Shelby Adamson, Tara Towns, Morgan Stehling and Lisa Parker, who will go down in TexAnn history as the all-time winningest senior class in Tarleton's NCAA history.
 
ESU will advance to play No. 1 seed Washburn in the second round Saturday.