Emporia State coach Brandon Schneider isn’t one to ask for much from Lady Hornet fans.
This week, however, was an exception.
At his Monday radio show, Schneider did something he normally doesn’t: He asked for everyone’s help at Saturday’s home game against undefeated and No. 2-ranked Missouri Western.
“We’d sure like to have a terrific, vocal, mean, nasty crowd,” he said with a smile.
That’s because the Lady Hornets have already faced one in St. Joseph, Mo.
Western received a huge lift from its raucous crowd of 2,896 in the Griffons’ 63-53 victory on Jan. 20.
Now, the Lady Hornets are looking for that same type of edge in White Auditorium when facing their toughest foe this season.
“It’s going to be a huge game for us — a rematch,” ESU forward Casey Henningsen said. “It’d be a lot of fun to have a big crowd there.”
The ESU-Western rivalry has typically been one of the best draws at White. In fact, of the Lady Hornets’ top 20 home crowds have come against the Griffons.
For the first time all season, ESU will play a ranked opponent at home. Not only that, but the Lady Griffons will be playing for the top spot in the nation, as No. 1-ranked North Dakota lost to St. Cloud State, 66-61, on Thursday night.
“We’re really looking forward to it being our crowd,” ESU junior Michelle Stueve said, “and not Western’s.”
The Lady Hornets had their chances in the first meeting, holding a nine-point lead in the second half before Western’s Inga Buzoka started to take over.
Buzoka, who averages 17.2 points and 9.2 rebounds, scored 16 points in the final 9 minutes and 28 seconds to lead the Griffons to the come-from-behind victory.
Meanwhile, ESU made just 19 of 69 shots (28 percent).
“We didn’t play very well the first time we played them,” Henningsen said. “After watching the film, we were really unhappy with our performance.”
Jill Johnson also thrived in the post for Western, scoring 17 points and 13 of her team’s 20 points in the first half.
ESU also will have to contend with the athletic Ashleigh Curry, a transfer who is averaging 16.6 points since becoming eligible at the semester.
The Lady Hornets have gone 15-4 at home against ranked opponents since 1997.
On the men’s side, ESU will look to bounce back from its second loss to Northwest Missouri State in the span of a week. The Hornets held a 40-25 lead in the second half before watching the Bearcats come back for a 63-58 victory.
“In this one, we were in the game,” ESU guard Wes Book said. “We felt like we played a lot harder and we worked harder and deserved to win.”
ESU will take on a Western team it defeated, 88-76, in the teams’ previous meeting on Jan. 20.
In that game, the Hornets trailed for a portion of the second half before using a 21-2 run to pull away.
Interestingly, ESU took a tumble in this week’s regional rankings after its first loss last week to Northwest. The Hornets dropped from No. 2 all the way to No. 5 despite only having one loss at the time the rankings were released.
ESU — with a No. 9 ranking, 17-1 record overall and 11-1 mark in the region — was placed behind Texas A&M-Kingsville, a team that is not ranked and also not receiving votes in the Top 25 poll.
The Javelinas had a 10-4 record overall and in the region before losing Wednesday to West Texas A&M.