Two games into the Emporia State women’s basketball season, it’s been all about the newcomers showing what they can do. During Friday night’s first night of the Lady Hornet Tip-Off Classic, it was Ashley Ferrell’s turn, in particular, to show what she could bring to the seventh-ranked Hornets.
The junior college transfer came off the bench and provided the energy and workmanlike persistence of the perfect blue-collar role player — and it resulted in the first double-double of Ferrell’s young Hornet career, as ESU overcame some stretches of lackluster offensive play to beat Eastern New Mexico 82-50 at White Auditorium.
Ferrell finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor, joining four other Hornets in double figures in scoring. Seven of her 10 boards were on the offensive end.
“She was a player that I think was a lot more comfortable coming off the bench, and really got herself into the flow by rebounding the ball and playing good defensively,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “And I thought that translated into good offense for her, and I thought that got our entire bench going.”
Early on, Ferrell displayed her facility for working tirelessly on the offensive glass and generating second-chance points. She stuck back a missed free throw by Negesti Taylor to make it 12-2, then rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Cassondra Boston and went back up with an 8-footer to give ESU a 16-4 lead.
She was in the right spot again later in the half on a missed three by Jamie Augustyn, grabbing the board and then dribbling her way into a midrange jumper. Ferrell then hit a 17-footer to give ESU its biggest lead of the first half at 36-15. By the end of the half, she already had nine points and six boards.
“I think I play better coming off the bench, and he told me just to get out there and do what I do — rebound and play defense,” Ferrell said. “And I gave it my all.”
Emporia State’s defense, both in the facets of straight-up guarding and rotations, was strong all game long — the Hornets held ENMU to 24 percent shooting, and the Zias had 21 turnovers and missed all 16 of their 3-point attempts.
The Hornets’ offense was another matter. ESU shot just 37.7 percent for the game and nailed just 6-of-22 from 3-point range. Point guard Boston led the Hornets with 13 points, but on 4-of-12 shooting. The Hornets got to the line a ton — 44 times — but only knocked down 24 of those free throws.
The first two-plus minutes of the game were scoreless before the Hornets ripped off 10 points in a row. A baseline drive for a score by Jocelyn Cummings got the run started, and Augustyn drove for a lefthanded running hook off the glass. Rachel Hanf converted on a traditional 3-point play, which was followed by the nontraditional kind on a long-range shot by Boston.
ESU took a 38-21 lead to the half, but saw Eastern New Mexico cut it to 13 less than five minutes into the second half. After a 7-0 run, ending on a Kelsey Newman jumper, pushed the lead back to 18 points, Eastern New Mexico scored six straight to pull within 52-40 with 9:28 left.
“Our defense and our rebounding, in particular in the first half, really gave us the opportunity to have a lead,” Schneider said. “We had a 17-point lead, and if we’d been worth a damn on offense, we would’ve had a 30-point lead. We didn’t make free throws, we didn’t finish around the basket, but I thought we did respond.”
The Hornets’ freshman class helped them widen the gap again. Cummings rebounded her own missed free throw and banked in a shot on the left side of the lane to make it 54-40, and soon after, Newman drove into the lane and got hacked for an and-one, hitting the free throw to make it 58-40 with just under 8 minutes left. Newman looked fearless in displaying her offensive game at a time when ENMU was threatening to claw back in it, and she finished with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
“Coach sat us down on the bench and said, ‘What’s it gonna be? We got to pick it up here,’” Newman said. “So we just went out there and started to pick it up, and had open shots, so I took (them).”
The Hornets finished the game on a 24-7 run for their second straight blowout win to open the year. Alli Volkens, still working her way back from an injury, asserted herself with successful post-ups on the low block late in the game and narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with 11 points and nine boards.
Taylor joined Ferrell in double-figure rebounds with 10.
Schneider knew this class of newcomers had talent and a chance to contribute early, and so far, against two vastly inferior opponents, it has. But there are still a lot of things he wants to work on.
“Oh, we are so far away from being any good, especially at the offensive end,” he said. “We’re shooting 40 percent from the field and averaging 86 points a game. ... So, the fact that we’re taking care of the ball has probably really helped us score. But we’re going to shoot it better. We’ve got better shooters and better finishers.”
In Friday’s first game of the Tip-Off Classic, Missouri Southern defeated Evangel 79-43.
Tonight, the Classic continues with Southern taking on ENMU at 5:30 p.m. and the Hornets playing Evangel at 7:30.
Friday at White Auditorium
Emporia State 82, E. New Mexico 50
ENMU 21 29 — 50
Emporia State 38 44 — 82
EASTERN NEW MEXICO (0-2)
Clay 1-10 4-5 6, Daugherty 5-13 0-0 10, Clark 1-6 2-2 4, Ortiz 0-3 0-0 0, Northcutt 3-11 3-3 9, O’Neal 1-6 0-1 2, Ingram 3-8 3-4 9, Altheide 0-4 0-0 0, Huntington 0-0 0-0 0, Bryant 2-3 0-0 4, Ford 0-2 0-0 0, Fifer 0-1 2-2 2, Belizario 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 17-70 16-19 50.
EMPORIA STATE (2-0)
Cummings 3-7 4-5 10, Taylor 2-9 4-9 8, Boston 4-12 3-6 13, Hanf 3-4 1-1 8, Augustyn 2-7 2-4 7, Tucker 0-1 0-2 0, Corker 1-4 0-0 3, Newman 4-7 2-5 11, Lenard 0-3 0-0 0, Ferrell 4-4 3-4 11, Volkens 3-11 5-8 11. Totals 26-69 24-44 82.
3-point goals — Eastern New Mexico 0-16 (Clay 0-3, Clark 0-4, Ortiz 0-2, Northcutt 0-4, Ingram 0-1, Ford 0-2), Emporia State 6-22 (Boston 2-7, Hanf 1-1, Augustyn 1-5, Newman 1-4, Corker 1-2, Cummings 0-2, Lenard 0-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Eastern New Mexico 49 (Daugherty 7), Emporia State 56 (Taylor, Ferrell 10). Assists — Eastern New Mexico 7 (Ortiz 2), Emporia State 14 (Hanf 5). Total fouls — Eastern New Mexico 30, Emporia State 19. Att. — 1,957.