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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Washburn Lady Blues couldn't overcome a cold shooting night for the second consecutive game and fell 61-52 to Emporia State on Saturday night in the MIAA tournament semifinals at Municipal Auditorium. Washburn will now wait to hear where they will play in next week's South Central Regional. The regional pairings will be released on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. CST.

Washburn (22-6) fell behind early 9-3 just as they did in the previous game against Missouri Western as they made just three of the first 16 shot attempts. The Lady Blues pulled to within a pair on two Megan Lassley free throws, but the Lady Hornets (20-8) used a 8-2 run to open a 17-9 lead midway through the first half.

The lead was still eight when Laura McMullin started to heat up scoring seven straight points to pull the Lady Blues to within a point at the 7:29 mark. A traditional three-point play by Alli Volkens pushed the ESU lead back to four at 22-18.

Another 7-0 run by Washburn gave the Lady Blues their first lead of the night at 25-22 with 3:16 to play in the opening stanza. The Lady Hornets cut the lead back to one, but a layup from Alyssa Mullen and three by Laura Kinderknecht gave Washburn a 32-26 lead at the intermission.

Cassie Lombardino opened the second half with a three-point play to give the Lady Blues their biggest lead of the night, 35-26, but Washburn would go on to hit just 6-of-32 field goals in the second half.

A 10-2 run by the Lady Hornets cut WU's lead to 37-36 with 16:23 to play in the game. McMullin made 1-of-2 free throws and Lassley nailed a trey to put Washburn back up by five. The lead was still five when Emporia State went on a 17-2 run to grab the lead for good. Washburn missed eight consecutive shots during the run and went nearly six minutes without a point.

The Lady Blues used a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 55-52 with 4:49 to play, but wouldn't score the rest of the way and missed their final eight shots.

Washburn shot just 30.2 percent (19-of-63) from the floor and 19 percent (4-of-21) from behind the three point line. WU was 10-of-16 for 62.5 percent from the charity stripe.

McMullin led Washburn with her first career double-double. She had career-highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Lassley finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Volkens led Emporia State with a double-double of 18 points and 10 boards, while Kelsey Balcom had 16 points. The Lady Hornets also out-rebounded Washburn 41-36.

ESU shot 41.2 percent (21-of-51) from the field and 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from beyond the arc. They were 14-of-17 from the foul line for 82.4 percent.

The loss was Washburn's first to Emporia State in the MIAA tournament. WU was 4-0 against the Lady Hornets in the postseason tournament heading into the game. The loss also snapped the Lady Blues' seven game winning streak in the tournament.