Lady Hornets look to bounce back
ESU-NSU game has regional implications
By Jeff Deters
Friday, February 3, 2012
It’s not often that a loss brings more good than harm.
But after watching the last 25 minutes of Wednesday night’s last-second defeat at Central Missouri, Emporia State Lady Hornets coach Jory Collins likes his team’s chances of knocking off No. 10 Northeastern State University much better.
“If we play like we did the last 25 minutes of the Central Missouri game, we’ll have a very good chance,” Collins said. “I thought that was 25 minutes of our better basketball. I told them that I felt better about our team after we lost than I did last Wednesday when we beat (Missouri) Western.”
The Hornets and Riverhawks will tip at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at White Auditorium. ESU has already beaten NSU earlier this. That was a 60-54 road win that came in early December. Rachel Hanf led ESU with 17 points that night and Heather Robben added 15.
The Riverhawks (18-2) feature no star players, but a balanced scoring attack and a motion offense await the Hornets on Saturday. Guard Taylor Lewis leads the team in scoring at 11.2 points per game. And 5-foot-11 forward Cristy Nitz is the only other double-digit scorer at 10.5 points a game. Nitz scored 18 against the Hornets in the first meeting.
“They are really good,” said ESU forward Jocelyn Cummings. “Their guards can penetrate and drive and shoot. They play a lot of five-out, so it’ll be a good test for us.”
Collins said NSU’s motion offense is also difficult to prepare for because it’s always changing.
“There’s no pattern, so you got to be on your toes to guard,” Collins said. “That’s difficult to guard. And they’ve got five people that can make jump shots. It’s a different kind of team that you have to play against.”
In the previous matchup, one reason the Hornets were able to come out on top was because of ESU’s defense on the perimeter.
“We did a really good job guarding them last time and we played really good defense,”said ESU guard Heather Robben. “And hopefully we can keep it up.”
The Hornets are currently ranked No. 22 in the country, so there’s the draw of a top 25 matchup. But there is also regional implications as well.
“They’re going to be up there and maybe No. 1 in the region if the poll came out this week,” Collins said of NSU. “And we’re kind of middle of the pack, and we need to get another win over a team over that caliber to get ourselves back in the discussion of being an easy regional contender.”
And, of course, there’s a little bit of league bragging rights as NSU is slated to join the MIAA next season.
“This is their first time coming to our gym,” Collins said. “And you want to play well and show them this is going to be a tough place to play.”
ESU enters the game 14-5 overall and 10-4 in the MIAA. And though the Hornets have lost two games in a row, another positive out of Wednesday’s game was the return of Kelsey Balcom.
Balcom, who missed the previous three games with a bad ankle, looked to be in top form against UCM. She scored 19 points, pulled down nine rebounds, hit 7 of 15 field goals and drained four 3-pointers in 38 minutes.
After Saturday there are only six more games to play in the regular season. Robben said the Hornets were looking forward to finishing on a high note. “We just really need a win,” she said. “We’d have two wins against them (the Riverhawks). So our goal is to finish strong and start playing like we were playing. And that will get us back to where we want to be.”