Press Release

Jan. 23, 2009

Second Half of MIAA Season Begins with No. 5 Emporia State

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MARYVILLE, Mo. - The second half of the MIAA season starts like the first half began, only this time Emporia State (15-2, 9-1 MIAA) will travel to Bearcat Arena for a 1:30 p.m. meeting with Northwest Missouri State (6-11, 2-8 MIAA) Saturday.

The fifth-ranked Lady Hornets are on a four-game win streak and hold a one-game lead over Central Missouri for first-place in the MIAA standings. A win for Northwest would be the first for any current Bearcat player against Emporia State. The last Northwest win in the series came in the 2004 MIAA tournament championship game.

Emporia State is ranked fourth among all NCAA divisions with 87.7 points per game through Jan. 18. The Lady Hornets are also ranked second in Division II with an average winning margin of 25.4 points.

In the first meeting between the two teams Dec. 5, Northwest held Emporia State to 71 points at White Auditorium, lowest scoring output for the Lady Hornets in a win this season. Meghan Brue led the Bearcats with 15 points and a career-best five steals in that game.

Brue needs two steals against the Hornets Saturday to tie 10th in program career records. A pair of three-pointers will increase her career total to 78 and move her into a tie for seventh with Erica Hatterman in all-time records. Brue currently has a 16-game double-digit scoring streak, the longest in program history since an 18-game streak by Denise Sump in 2000.

Micaela Uriell only had seven points against the Lady Hornets earlier this season, but in the last six games since Dec. 31, she's averaged 12.5 points and shot 38.9 percent from beyond the three-point line. She leads the team at the free-throw line with an 81 percent mark, which would place her fifth in MIAA statistics if she met the minimum of 2.5 free throws per game (she's only made 34 free throws in 17 games).

Rickeya McElroy needs two blocks to tie Andrea Dill for fourth in season blocked shot records and three to tie Jamie Long for third. McElroy leads the Bearcats with 29 blocks and is on pace to finish second in program records.