ESU Sports
Don Weast, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
Former Emporia State Lady Hornet guard Kelly Moten is taking her talents to Europe. Moten will travel to Switzerland later this summer to play professionally for Riva Basket of the LNA, the top Swiss league for women.
“I couldn’t be more thankful and excited for this journey to begin,” Moten said. “Playing professionally has always been a dream of mine and I finally get to do so.”
Moten was the 2017 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) DII Player of the Year, finished her Lady Hornets career ranked third in career scoring, fifth in assists and steals, and ninth in blocked shots. She has played the most games by a Lady Hornet, going 116-20 in 136 career games and is the first player in NCAA Division II history to score 1900 points with 600 rebounds, 500 assists, 200 steals and 100 blocked shots.
She was named the MIAA Player and Defensive Player of the Year and earned first-team All-MIAA honors and All-Defensive honors for the third straight year. She was named to the NCAA Central Region All-Tournament team each of the last three years and was the first player to earn MIAA All-Tournament team honors four straight years. Moten was just the fourth Lady Hornet to earn first-team All-American honors from both the WBCA and CoSIDA in the same year. She graduated with a 3.03 GPA and has been a member of the MIAA Academic Honor Roll and the Emporia State Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.
“I would like to thank everyone who assisted me on this journey,” Moten said. “I am looking forward to joining the Riva Club and doing everything I can to help put the team in a better position to succeed. Thanks to everyone for helping me truly live out my dream.”
Riva Basket is based in Riva San Vitale. It is a municipality in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland, located in the district of Mendrisio, near the Italian border. Riva is part of a nine team league that plays around 22 games from late September into early April.
Moten is the fourth Lady Hornet to sign a professional contract in head coach Jory Collins seven years at Emporia State. She joins Merissa Quick, Amber Vandiver and Sandra Ngoie as professional players under Collins.