TOPEKA, Kan. -- The top-seeded Lady Blues trailed the entire second half as they lost, 65-58 Friday night to eighth-seeded Emporia State in the first round of the NCAA Central Region tournament at Schendel Court at Lee Arena.

The Lady Blues ended their season at 23-6 while Emporia State beat Washburn for the second straight time and improved to 22-8. The Lady Hornets will play Saturday at 7 p.m. against the No. 4 Minnesota State/No. 5 Arkansas Tech winner.

The Lady Blues were the third team in the tournament to get upset as No. 2 Central Missouri and No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul also fell.

Senior Tiara George ended her time at Washburn by tying her career high with 22 points. She was 10 of 14 from the field and had a game-high seven rebounds.Lavonda McCall had nine points as she was 4 of 11 from the field.

The Lady Blues trailed by 10 points with 1:37 to play. George then hit a layup and after a steal from McCall, Everett hit a layup to get Washburn within six with 1:14 to play. Emporia State pushed it back to an eight-point lead and Washburn wasn't able to get closer than five the rest of the way.

Emporia State shot 48 percent from the field while Washburn was 41 percent. The Lady Blues made just 9 of 18 free throws while ESU made 17 of 25.

The first half was back and forth with six ties and seven lead changes. The Lady Blues led by four with 3:29 to play in the half when Brittney Lynch hit a jumper. She scored six points in the first half.

Emporia State ended the first half on a 9-2 run to take a 28-25 lead into halftime.

Laura Kinderknecht was held scoreless in the first half and ended with six points. She ended her career with 20th at Washburn with 1,019 points, third with 197 3-pointers and sixth with 312 assists. She's the only Lady Blue to ever score at least 1,000 points with 300 assists and 197 3-pointers.

Three Lady Hornets finished in double figures. Laura Patrick was 6 of 12 from the field for 20 points and Merissa Quick went 6 of 8 with 17 points. Rheanna Egli scored 16 points.

On 3/15/2013 5:07 PM, Jeremy Wangler wrote:
Full recap with stats and postgame press conferences here:
http://wusports.com/sports/2012/2/24/2013wbbregional.aspx

Upsets continue as No. 7 Southwestern Oklahoma beats Central Missouri

Box Score (html)

Seventh-seeded Southwestern Oklahoma topped No. 2 Central Missouri 73-71 Friday afternoon in the Bulldogs' first trip to the NCAA tournament. They will play No. 6 Augustana Saturday at 5 p.m. as the Vikings also posted an upset with a win over No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul.

Southwestern Oklahoma improved to 24-6 and the Jennies, ranked 13th in the country, ended their season at 24-6.

The Bulldogs led 71-56 with 4:12 to play before the Jennies went on a 10-0 run to get within three with 37 seconds remaining. They ended the run with two straight 3-pointers. Southwestern Oklahoma finally scored on two free throws from Tanita Dewberry to go up by five with 33 seconds remaining. The Jennies hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to get within two and then they got the ball back after a missed free throw from the Bulldogs. The Jennies couldn't get a shot off in the final seconds.

Michelle Fisher led the Bulldogs with 24 points as she was 9 of 17 from the field. Tanita Dewberry was their only other scorer in double figures with 10 points. She was 4 of 5 from the field. Elizabeth Lay grabbed 10 rebounds for Southwestern Oklahoma.

The Jennies were led by Keuna Flax with 22 points and BreAnna Lewis with 18. Nicole Caddell had a double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds.

SWOSU shot 41 percent from the field after a 49 percent effort in the second half. Central Missouri was 38 percent from the field.