By George Bremer, Herald Bulletin Sports Writer
ANDERSON — Nellie Eskew is no stranger to postseason play.
The former Anderson High School center was a starter on last year’s sectional championship team and a key reserve for the Indians’ 2006 Final Four run.
But this is a whole new ballgame.
Now a freshman at Taylor University, Eskew will compete this afternoon in the NAIA Division II national tournament.
The 25th-ranked Trojans (21-11) have a first-round date with Concordia (24-8) at 11:15 a.m. at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
“I’m really excited,” Eskew said Tuesday in a phone interview. “Our goal the whole year has been to come out here and win. And we’ve been working really hard to get that done.”
Taylor advanced to the elite eight two years ago, and two seniors remain from that team. But eight of the 11 players on this year’s roster are underclassmen.
That has Eskew excited about the future. She said she’s learned a lot about the college game this season, and she can’t wait to pass on that knowledge to next year’s freshman class.
“I never understood how hard it is to get here (to the national tournament) until we finally got here,” Eskew said. “You’ve got to fight through a lot of battles. You’ve got to have a lot of heart and hustle.”
Heart and hustle have never been a problem for Eskew.
Her versatility was a major factor during her high school career. She had the ability to give the team a lift in whatever area was necessary in any given game.
That same quality has served her well at Taylor. She averages 6.2 points, three rebounds and one block per game coming off the bench. But she’s had five double-figure scoring nights and six games with at least five rebounds.
On Jan. 7 against Grace College, Eskew scored 10 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked seven shots.
“Nellie’s been huge,” Trojans coach Tena Krause said. “She’s given us the most productive, quality minutes off the bench of any freshman.”
Eskew has been particularly productive against Mid-Central Conference champion Huntington University. She scored a career-high 19 points and made four steals against the Foresters in a regular season game on Dec. 3.
In the MCC tournament title game, Eskew scored 14 points in 19 minutes to keep Taylor close in a 65-60 loss to No. 16 Huntington. Shortly after that contest, the Trojans learned they’d received an at-large bid into the 32-team national tournament field.
“We’re real excited,” Krause said. “We played a hard schedule. Over half the teams we played were ranked or getting votes at the time we played them. We were hoping it would be the type of schedule that would help prepare us for the opportunity to get here.”
The most amazing thing about Eskew’s freshman season might be that she’s been playing hurt most of the year. She chipped a bone in her kneecap, and the fragment still is floating in her knee. Recently, the chipped area also has become irritated, adding to her pain. In addition, her bursa sac is infected.
She will undergo exploratory surgery after the season to diagnose and then clean up the problems. In the meantime, Eskew simply plays through the pain.
“I think the trainer finally found the right solution for me to be at 100 percent,” she said.
That’s a good sign for Taylor. Because Eskew already has big plans for the rest of her career.
“I plan on coming back (to the national tournament) all three years,” she said.
