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TAHLEQUAH, Okla. —
The Pittsburg State women knew coming in points would be at a premium Wednesday evening in a nonconference clash against the RiverHawks of Northeastern State, both nationally-ranked teams.
Pitt State finished shooting 17-for-51 from the field and 5-22 from 3-point range and committed 20 turnovers en route to a 61-48 loss. Conversely, Northeastern State shot 46 percent from the field (21-46), 50 percent from 3-point range (8-16) and 85 percent on its free throws (11-13).
“They’re just really, really, really tough to beat here,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord told Eddie Lomshek of KKOW. “They’re really solid, but we’re pretty good too and we’ll come back and get better from this. Bottom line is, right now we’re not getting any production from a couple of our starters and they’ve really got to turn the corner and do a better job for us. We’re really struggling from the floor.”
Outside interior players Lizzy Jeronimus (4-4) and Larissa Richards (2-3), Pitt State made only 11 of its 44 shots (25 percent). The Gorillas have been off shooting their last three games against Washburn, Fort Hays State and Northeastern State, a fact that understandably concerns Lord.
“We need to skip the ball quickly and then we need to drive it off the skip or we need to shoot the ball off the skip with confidence,” Lord said. “Then, you can’t get more wide open than some of the shots we got tonight. You’ve got to bury them. They did. When you’re wide open in college basketball, you’ve got to make shots and we just didn’t make shots when we had the opportunities . . . 20 turnovers didn’t help the situation either and we need to go to work on our offensive flow in the halfcourt.”
Northeastern State (15-1) presented matchup problems for Pitt State, negating the interior presence of posts Richards and Lauren Brown.
“They have five players that can play all five spots,” Lord said, “so that’s why Lauren couldn’t play tonight and Larissa, we had her in there one time against No. 20 (Cristy Nitz) and she can’t guard her on the perimeter. It’s just impossible because the girl’s really a guard playing in the 5-slot. We cut the lead to three and she hits back-to-back 3s. There’s the difference in the game right there. It’s not Larissa’s fault. We’ve got to rotate better on the defensive end.”
The Pittsburg State women knew coming in points would be at a premium Wednesday evening in a nonconference clash against the RiverHawks of Northeastern State, both nationally-ranked teams.
Pitt State finished shooting 17-for-51 from the field and 5-22 from 3-point range and committed 20 turnovers en route to a 61-48 loss. Conversely, Northeastern State shot 46 percent from the field (21-46), 50 percent from 3-point range (8-16) and 85 percent on its free throws (11-13).
“They’re just really, really, really tough to beat here,” Pitt State head coach Lane Lord told Eddie Lomshek of KKOW. “They’re really solid, but we’re pretty good too and we’ll come back and get better from this. Bottom line is, right now we’re not getting any production from a couple of our starters and they’ve really got to turn the corner and do a better job for us. We’re really struggling from the floor.”
Outside interior players Lizzy Jeronimus (4-4) and Larissa Richards (2-3), Pitt State made only 11 of its 44 shots (25 percent). The Gorillas have been off shooting their last three games against Washburn, Fort Hays State and Northeastern State, a fact that understandably concerns Lord.
“We need to skip the ball quickly and then we need to drive it off the skip or we need to shoot the ball off the skip with confidence,” Lord said. “Then, you can’t get more wide open than some of the shots we got tonight. You’ve got to bury them. They did. When you’re wide open in college basketball, you’ve got to make shots and we just didn’t make shots when we had the opportunities . . . 20 turnovers didn’t help the situation either and we need to go to work on our offensive flow in the halfcourt.”
Northeastern State (15-1) presented matchup problems for Pitt State, negating the interior presence of posts Richards and Lauren Brown.
“They have five players that can play all five spots,” Lord said, “so that’s why Lauren couldn’t play tonight and Larissa, we had her in there one time against No. 20 (Cristy Nitz) and she can’t guard her on the perimeter. It’s just impossible because the girl’s really a guard playing in the 5-slot. We cut the lead to three and she hits back-to-back 3s. There’s the difference in the game right there. It’s not Larissa’s fault. We’ve got to rotate better on the defensive end.”
Pitt State led early on 9-3, but Northeastern State took over in the first half (leading 26-19 at halftime) and maintained the lead for the rest of the game.
Only junior Drew Roberts and senior Brooke Conley reached double figures for the Gorillas — Roberts 13 points and Conley 11 points. Six Pitt State players reached the scoring column — four starters and bench players Morgan Westhoff and Courtney Tate.
RiverHawks starter Cristy Nitz and bench player Tosha Tyler paced Northeastern State with 12 points apiece. Sarah Green joined them in double figures with 10 — Green made all six of her free throw attempts.
Pitt State (15-2) returns to conference play Saturday with a road game against Missouri Western.
The Gorillas and the RiverHawks meet again Feb. 25 in John Lance Arena.
No. 8 RIVERHAWKS 61, No. 15 GORILLAS 48
PITTSBURG STATE (48) — Drew Roberts 5-12 2-2 13, Brooke Conley 4-16 0-1 11, Lizzy Jeronimus 4-4 1-2 9, Larissa Richards 2-3 4-6 8, Morgan Westhoff 2-8 0-0 5, Courtney Tate 0-1 2-4 2, Alexa Bordewick 0-5 0-0 0, Lauren Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Amanda Orloske 0-1 0-0 0, Lisa Elmer 0-0 0-0 0, Sara Molz 0-0 0-0 0, Brigit Hesser 0-0 0-0 0, Kristina Willis 0-0 0-0 0, Hailey Roderique 0-0 0-0 0, Britnee Foster 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-51 9-15 48.
NORTHEASTERN STATE (61) — Cristy Nitz 5-11 0-1 12, Tosha Tyler 4-6 3-3 12, Sarah Green 2-5 6-6 10, Megan Fraley 2-4 2-3 8, Taylor Lewis 3-8 0-0 7, Jasmine Wright 3-5 0-0 6, Katy Harsen 1-3 0-0 3, Chelsey Stricklen 1-1 0-0 3, Carrington Fox 0-2 0-0 0, Fontana Tate 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Collins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-46 11-13 61.
Halftime — NESU 26, PSU 19. 3-point goals — PSU 5-22 (Conley 3-7, Westhoff 1-4, Roberts 1-6, Bordewick 0-3, Tate 0-1, Orloske 0-1), NESU 8-16 (Fraley 2-3, Nitz 2-6, Tyler 1-1, Stricklen 1-1, Harsen 1-2, Lewis 1-2, Green 0-1). Rebounds — PSU 37 (Jeronimus 8), NESU 26 (Wright 6). Assists — PSU 2 (Jeronimus, Tate 1), NESU 11 (Green 3). Turnovers — PSU 20, NESU 14. Steals — PSU 5, NESU 11 (Fraley 3). Blocked shots — PSU 1, NESU 2. Personal fouls — PSU 19, NESU 13. Technical fouls — none.
