KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Pittsburg State women's basketball team set MIAA Tournament records for three in a game (16) and in a half (11), while combining with Fort Hays State to score the most points in a half (92, 51-41) as they cruised to a 90-74 win to advance to the MIAA Tournament Championship game for only the second time in school history. The Gorillas will face Emporia State at 1 p.m. on Sunday (March 6) at Municipal Auditorium.
In addition to the MIAA Tournament records, the Gorillas set a new Pittsburg State record with its 15th conseuctive win. Senior Cathy Brugman also scored her 1,000th career point.
All five of the Pitt State starters scored in double figures. Mikaela Burgess led all scorers with 21 points. Paige Lungwitz scored a career-high 17 points . Hadyn Herlocker added 15, while Kylie Gafford and Cathy Brugman each scored 10. Gafford led the Gorillas with seven rebounds. Herlocker led the team with seven assists and two steals.
The early going was a franticly-paced, back-and-forth game. Fort Hays State took its largest lead of the game on a layup by Nikola Kacperska to go up 11-8. Pitt State quickly answered with its third three of the game and the second by Herlocker. Free throws by Kylie Gafford with 5:41 to go gave Pitt State the lead for good. From there, Pitt State would just stretch the lead. A 12-0 lead with three consecutive long balls from Herlocker, Burgess and Shelby Lopez put the Gorillas up by 14, 30-16, with 1:46 to go in the first quarter. Following four Tiger points, Lopez added another three and Brugman ended the quarter with a layup for a 35-20 Pitt State advantage after the first 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter started with more of the same as Gafford sunk a three with 8:45 to go to give the Gorillas their largest lead of the first half, 40-22. Late in the half an 8-0 run by the Tigers cut the Gorilla lead to single digits, but Lungwitz drove the lane for a layup as time expired to make the halftime score 51-41.
Early in the third quarter Fort Hays was able to cut the Pitt State lead to six, 53-47, with the help of back-to-back threes. Though most of the quarter the Gorillas led only by single digits, they were still able to keeep FHSU at arms length.
With 9:10 to go in the game, Lungwitz made the first Gorilla three of the second half. Pitt State went on a 13-0 run from just over a minute in the third quarter to the 5:59 mark in the 4th to stretch the lead to 18. A three by Herlocker with 4:17 to go gave Pitt State its largest lead of the game, 81-61. The Tigers would get no closer than 11 points, and the Gorillas would end the game with a 90-74 win.
Emporia State earned its way into the championship game with a 85-74 win over top-seeded Missouri Western in the second semifinal game.
