No. 22 Lady Hornets knock off No. 10 Northeastern State
ESU breaks two-game skid
By Jeff Deters
Monday, February 6, 2012
An offensive shootout just was not going to happen. Not with two defensive-minded teams on the court.
Facing No. 10 Northeastern Sate, a team that entered the game ranked third nationally in scoring defense at allowing just 60 points a game, the No. 22 Emporia State Lady Hornets didn’t shoot well. But they caught fire late in the first half and eventually turned a 10-point first-half deficit into a 52-42 win Saturday afternoon at White Auditorium.
The Hornets trailed the Riverhawks 12-2 at the 11:52 mark of the first half, but a 15-0 run fueled by three 3-pointers from Heather Robben and Kelsey Balcom put ESU up 25-17 at the half.
“We finally settled in and were able to find some cracks in the defense,” ESU coach Jory Collins said. “We ran the same play four or five times in a row to get open looks and scored on at least half of those. They are a great defensive team. They are tough to score on. Points are at a premium when you play them, and we were able to make enough plays there at the end of the first half to get ourselves back in the game from being 10 down.”
The slow start was somewhat reminiscent of ESU’s game Wednesday at Central Missouri, but this time the Hornet rally held until the end. After Balcom’s layup gave ESU a 16-15 lead, the Hornets never trailed again. The Riverhawks (18-3) did tie the game at 38-all late in the second half before ESU finished the game on a 14-4 spurt.
“I wish we could play a full game,” said Balcom, who posted a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. “I feel like we keep starting slow and the first five minutes are kind of blah. And then we show up. I think we need to work on showing up from the get-go. But we hung in there and kept going.”
Robben scored a game-high 16 points and went 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. The miss ended her MIAA record of 45 consecutive free throws.
The Hornets (15-5) shot just 16-for-47 from the field (34 percent) but held the Riverhawks to just 16-for-56 shooting (28.6 percent). ESU also won the battle on the boards 51-26.
“I know the stress this week has been to be tougher and take charges and do the little things,” Robben said. “We rebounded it really well. Obviously we killed them on that, and I think we just talked and communicated really well.”
Sarah Wood and Rheanna Egli started in place of Merissa Quick and Rachel Hanf. Wood finished with three points and nine rebounds in 17 minutes while Egli scored nine points and had four assists in 33 minutes.
“She (Egli) was at least aggressive with the ball and drawing defense and kicking,” Collins said. “And she just had an aggressive mentality, which makes people have to guard you. Sarah had seven rebounds in the first half and played a great first half. We couldn’t throw it into our posts because their defense was too good. But I was really happy how we rebounded. Winning by 25 on the glass is a really good effort.”
Quick had seven points and 11 rebounds and Hanf scored six points on two big 3-pointers in the second half.
Tosha Tyler was the only Riverhawk in double figures with 10 points. The win marked the second time the Hornets have beaten the Riverhawks this season. ESU also broke a two-game losing streak and scored a much-needed win for regional purposes.
“I know everybody came into today and it didn’t matter who we were playing, whether it was Northeastern at No. 10 or some junior high team, we were going to come out and play hard because we wanted to win a basketball game,” Collins said. “And this game obviously has some regional implications. It’s going to be nice for us to have two wins over a team that’s probably going to be No. 1 or 2 in the region right now.”
The Hornets will play Southwest Baptist at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at home.
Saturday at White Auditorium
Northeastern State 17 25 — 42
Emporia State 25 27 — 52
NORTHEASTERN STATE
Nitz 3-10 0-0 6, Wright 0-8 1-2 1, Green 3-6 0-0 8, Lewis 2-9 0-0 4, Fraley 2-6 0-0 4, Tyler 3-8 2-4 10, Harsen 2-3 1-2 6, Kok 0-4 0-1 0, Fox 1-2 1-1 3. Totals 16-56 5-10 42.
EMPORIA STATE
Balcom 4-11 1-3 10, Wood 1-2 1-2 3, Egli 3-7 3-4 9, Cummings 0-0 1-2 1, Robben 4-10 6-7 16, Hanf 2-10 0-0 6, Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Flott 0-1 0-0 0, Quick 2-5 3-4 7, Logsdon 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 15-22 52.
3-point goals — NSU: 5-21 (Nitz 0-1, Wright 0-4, Green 2-2, Lewis 0-5, Fraley 0-3, Tyler 2-4, Harsen 1-2). ESU: 5-21 (Balcom 1-5, Egli 0-4, Robben 2-4, Hanf 2-8).
Rebounds — NSU: 26 (Tyler 7) ESU: 51 (Balcom 12).
Assists — NSU: 8 (Tyler, Fox 2) ESU: 8 (Egli 4).
Att. — 1,896.