Women's Basketball | 2/21/2012 5:51:00 PM
SENIOR NIGHT TURNPIKE TUSSLE
The #22 Lady Hornets take on #12 Washburn on Senior Night at White Auditorium. It will be the final home game for seniors Heather Robben, Kayla Krueger and Dava Logsdon. This is the third time the Turnpike Tussle has been ESU's Senior Night.
LAST TIME OUT
The #20 Lady Hornets had four players in double figures as the picked up a 62-57 road win at Lincoln on Saturday afternoon. ESU jumped out to a 10-2 lead to open the game, capped by back to back three-pointers by Rachel Hanf. LU came back to take the lead at 27-26 on Dahlia Booker’s lay-up with 2:40 left in the half. Kelsey Balcom answered with a three pointer with 1:54 left to give the Lady Hornets the lead for good. Their lead would grow to 12 points with 9:02 left on Balcom fast break layup. LU outscored ESU 11-4 after Rheanna Egli hit a three pointer at the 4:41 mark, but the Lady Hornets hit four of six free throws in the final two minutes to seal the win. Balcom and Merissa Quick both scored 13 points to lead the Lady Hornets and they were joined by Hanf with 11 points and Heather Robben with ten points. Balcom led ESU with eight rebounds.
THE COACHES
Jory Collins is 38-15 in his second year as the head coach of the Lady Hornets and is 5-5 vs. Top 25 teams. This is his 11th season on the Lady Hornet coaching staff and ESU has advanced to the NCAA tournament in eight of his ten previous seasons. He is 2-2 against Washburn.
Ron McHenry is 313-64 in his 12th year at WU and is 21-11 against ESU.
SCOUTING THE LADY BLUES
Washburn is 23-4 overall, 16-2 in the MIAA and #12 in the WBCA Top 25. They are led in scoring by Seton Hall transfer Ebonie Williams at 15.3 points per game. She is averaging 19.4 points over her last ten games. Boise State transfer Sierra Moeller is the leading rebounder for WU at 7.0 boards per game after redshirting last season.
THE SERIES
The Lady Hornets lead the series 43-41, having won three of the last six meetings. ESU leads the series 21-14 in White Auditorium. This is the 25th time the two have met with both teams ranked in the top 25. They are the last two MIAA teams to win national championships, with WU taking the 2005 title and ESU winning in 2010.
LAST TIME VS. WASHBURN
The #18 Lady Hornets cut a 15 point deficit down to five with 38 seconds left but couldn't finish the comeback in a 73-66 loss to #17 Washburn. WU took their biggest lead of the night at 59-44 with 7:54 left. A 20-10 run by ESU would cut the WU lead to 69-64 with 36.9 seconds remaining. Heather Robben led ESU with 27 points but Kelsey Balcom was the only other Lady Hornet in double figures with 11 points. Robben's 27 points are the most scored by a Lady Hornet against WU since Casey Henningsen scored 27 in a 61-59 overtime win in the 2006 Regional Championship game.
UP NEXT
The #22 Lady Hornets will play their final regular season game at Ft. Hays State on Saturday. Tip-off in Gross Coliseum is at 6 p.m. following the NCAA Regional Wrestling Tourney in Hays.
