Emporia State freshman Kathryn Flott was ready for her first start of the year.
Filling in for Kelsey Balcom, who was out with an ankle injury, Flott’s sparked the Lady Hornets to a 63-49 win over Northwest Missouri State on Sunday afternoon at White Auditorium.
“I knew I had to step up to fill her shoes,” Flott said. “And also I think everyone had to step up knowing she (Balcom) was out. And as a team I think we did that.”
Flott got things started early and scored ESU’s first bucket of the game. By the end of the first half, Flott had eight points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes. She slowed a bit and didn’t score in the second half, but still finished the game with 11 rebounds and a steal in 28 minutes.
“Northwest is a good matchup for her (Flott) because their four players are more post-oriented than guard-oriented, so she was able to play a lot of minutes against those guys,” ESU coach Jory Collins said. “I thought she was really effective in the first half. She couldn’t finish any plays in the second half. She should have had about 16 or 18 (points) and 11 instead of eight and 11 if she makes some free throws. But she’s coming along, and she’s going to be a big help for us down the stretch.”
The Hornets jumped out to a 10-4 lead and followed that with a 14-4 run that included a field goal from Dava Logsdon, a three-point play from Haley Parker and 3-pointer from Rachel Hanf.
NWMSU cut the lead to 11 late in the half, but buckets by Jocelyn Cummings, Flott and Sarah Wood pushed ESU’s lead to 17 with six seconds to go in the half. But Abby Henry’s half-court shot at the buzzer made it 37-23 ESU at the break.
The Hornets opened the second half on a 15-7 spurt that featured two more threes from Hanf. Hanf finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. She made 3 of 5 from behind the arc and moved into eighth place on ESU’s all-time 3-point field goals made list.
“It feels really good to start making shots again,” Hanf said. “I hope I can keep it up.”
With Balcom out, Flott wasn’t the only player who made solid contributions. Parker had seven points. Wood had nine points, eight rebounds and two blocks and Kayla Krueger had five points.
The Hornets shot 26 of 63 (41.3 percent) but held the Bearcats to 17 of 75 shooting (22.7 percent). ESU (13-3, 9-2 MIAA) led by 28 with 6:44 to play before NWMSU (4-14, 2-9 MIAA) shaved 15 points off ESU’s lead.
“I thought for about 32 minutes we were really good on defense,” Collins said. “The last four minutes of the first half and the last three and a half minutes of the game we weren’t very good. We were much better guarding the post than we were the last time we played them. We didn’t let them catch it on their spot as easy as we did the last time we played them. And I thought that was probably the difference in the game.”
Collins said Balcom could be ready to play for Wednesday’s home game against Missouri Western. If not, Collins added Balcom would likely be available for Saturday’s game at Truman.
Sunday at White Auditorium
NWMSU 23 27 — 50
Emporia State 37 26 — 63
NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE
Mathews 5-11 1-2 11, Marnin 0-3 2-2 2, Henry 4-15 5-6 16, Nelson 1-12 0-0 3, Martin 1-7 0-0 2, Scott 0-4 0-0 0, A. Boeh 1-3 0-0 2, C. Boeh 3-13 4-4 10, Roach 2-5 0-0 4, Hauder 0-1 0- 0. Totals 17-75 12-14 50.
EMPORIA STATE
Flott 4-11 0-3 8, Quick 1-2 0-0 2, Hanf 4-11 0-1 11, Cummings 2-5 1-2 5, Robben 4-10 3-3 12, Egli 1-5 0-0 2, Parker 3-5 1-1 7, Krueger 2-3 0-0 5, Wood 4-6 1-2 9, Logsdon 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 26-63 6-12 63.
3-point goals — NWMSU: 4-13 (Henry 3-5, Nelson 1-5, Martin 0-1, Scott 0-1, Thayer 0-1). ESU: 5-22 (Flott 0-1, Hanf 3-5, Cummings 0-1, Robben 1-6, Egli 0-3, Parker 0-1, Krueger 1-2, Logsdon 0-3).
Rebounds — NWMSU: 45 (Marnin 9) ESU: 56 (Flott 11).
Assists — NWMSU: 10 (Martin 3). ESU: 14 (Cummings 6).
Att. — 1,976.
create (anonymous) says...
Wow, two Olpe girls playing on the same team. Awesome!
January 24, 2012 at 7:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )