TAHLEQUAH -- Northeastern State heads into the second week of conference play with a weekend matchup on the road against Emporia State on Saturday.

The RiverHawks enter the contest at .500 in MIAA action thus far after splitting last week's dates in Tahlequah against Fort Hays State (L, 63-52) and Nebraska-Kearney (W, 74-71). 

The Setup
- Keith Ferguson is in his first season as head women's basketball coach at Northeastern State after spending the previous seven at Bethany College (Kan.). Notably, Ferguson scored his first MIAA win, in addition to his 200th overall win as a head coach last Saturday against Nebraska-Kearney. 
- The RiverHawks are in their 12th season as members of the MIAA and 27th season as an NCAA Division II program.  
- Saturday is the MIAA road opener for NSU, in addition to the start of a three-game road trip that spans the middle portion of December. 

Storylines
- A win on Saturday would secure Northeastern State two out of their first three conference matchups for the first time since the 2020-21 season. 
- Last Saturday's win over Nebraska-Kearney marked the first MIAA win of the Ferguson era at NSU, while it marked their first triumph over the Lopers since 2014, snapping an 18-game losing skid to UNK. 
- The offensive attack was firing on all cylinders against the Lopers, as the RiverHawks shot over 50% for the first time in the Ferguson era, connecting on 23-of-45, as well as 8-of-14 from three-point land. 
- Halie Jones became the first NSU player this season to net a 20+ point performance last weekend in the win over UNK. Jones scored a career-high 25 on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor alongside 5-of-7 from long range. The big day led to Jones receiving MIAA Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week honors. The fifth year senior has been the team's top offensive contributor seven games in, leading with 15.0 points per game. 
- Jones and Brennan Kirchhoff have each made a habit of picking the pockets of opposing teams, as of late. Both players recorded three steals apiece in the win over the Lopers on Saturday. Jones and Kirchhoff rank first and second on the team in steals with 13 and 12, respectively.
- Making it to 70 points has been a key to success for NSU this season, as the RiverHawks are 4-0 when they score over 70 and 0-3 when they score under that total.
- With last week's results, the team climbed into the top ten nationally in both free throws made and attempts per game. 
- After just one away game in November, the RiverHawks spend the next three away from Tahlequah, featuring road encounters with Emporia State (Dec. 9), Rogers State (Dec. 13) and Washburn (Dec. 19). 

Northeastern State at Emporia State // December 9 at 6:00 p.m. // Live Coverage

About Emporia State (4-3, 2-0 MIAA)
- The Lady Hornets took their conference opener last week in a 60-57 result over Washburn inside the White Auditorium on Saturday. A big night at the free throw line, where the team shot 38-of-50, propelled them to a second consecutive conference victory to start their MIAA slate with an 80-71 triumph over Rogers State. Saturday concludes a three-game homestand for ESU. 
- Brian Ostermann is in his first season leading the program. Ostermann is in his 35th season as a collegiate coach after spending the previous nine as the associate head coach at Kansas State. While this is his first campaign as a head women's basketball coach at the collegiate level, Ostermann had previous head coaching stints leading men's basketball at the junior college level with Missouri State-West Plains (2004-08) and Colby CC (1999-2004). 
- ESU's efforts with the basketball are anchored by a duo of double-double threats in Faith Paramore (12.9 PPG, 8.7 RPG) and Queen Ulabo (12.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG). Meanwhile, Katie Horyna leads the team in assists (4.0 APG) and paced all ESU players with 14 points in their conference-opening win last weekend. 
- The Lady Hornets will look for more offensive efficiency across the roster when they take the court this weekend, as the team has shot under 40% in six of their first seven and have shot at a 24.1% clip from beyond the arc so far. 

Last Time They Met
Emporia State 72, Northeastern State 53 | Jan. 25, 2023 | Emporia, Kan.

- A 10-of-15 (66.7%) shooting first quarter allowed the Lady Hornets to accumulate a double-digit lead in the opening period. The RiverHawks fought back to take the deficit down to three with 51 seconds left in the half, but ESU scored 12 unanswered in response and never looked back to score the win. 
- Jaylee Kindred, Ashton Hackler and Ashya Harris tied for the team lead with ten points, while Courtney Lee provided eight points and seven rebounds in the loss. 
- Frequency at the free throw line assisted the hosting Lady Hornets. ESU received more than double the attempts at the charity stripe compared to NSU (20-to-7) and took a +11 advantage factoring in conversions (16-to-5). 

Series Notes
- ESU controls the all-time series with a 22-5 lead entering Saturday.
- The RiverHawks have lost 11 straight overall to the Lady Hornets, as well as the last nine meetings held in Emporia. 
- NSU has been held to under 60 in three of their last four against ESU. The team averages 57.8 points per contest over the all-time series. 

Coming Up
Northeastern State continues their road trip with a visit to Claremore, Okla. to battle Rogers State on Wednsday, Dec. 13 at 5:30 p.m.