Emporia High senior Sadie Webb was much more willing to talk about her free-throw shooting after the Emporia High girls defeated Olathe East, 63-43, Saturday.
Two days after she went just 7-of-13 at the line in a win against Olathe North — a performance that didn’t sit right with her — Webb drained 13 of 14 free throws against Olathe East in the second round of the Paul Terry Classic at White Auditorium to help the Lady Spartans come back from a one-point halftime deficit and turn it into a dominating 20-point victory.
“I can talk about my free throws again,” Webb said with a laugh following the win.
Webb’s near-perfect outing at the line was part of a lopsided foul situtation for the Lady Spartans (2-0), particularly in the second half when Emporia used its inside game to draw foul after foul against the Lady Hawks (0-2). For the game, EHS shot 32 free throws to East’s 12, including a second half in which the Lady Spartans shot 20 free throws while East shot only four.
“I think in the second half, we came out a lot stronger and we finished our shots around the basket,” Webb said. “I think that was the main thing that helped us out in the second half. We were stronger.”
It was a more aggressive attitude out of the halftime locker room that allowed EHS to get the lead, and it was foul shooting that eventually led to Emporia finally pulling away in the second half.
After a back-and-forth first half saw four ties and nine lead changes, Emporia found itself down by one at halftime, 25-24. Olathe East’s pressure, particularly with its half-court trap defense, had frustrated the Lady Spartans, leading to nine turnovers and a variety of rushed shots. Emporia shot just 24 percent from the field in the first half and allowed East to hit 44 percent of its shots.
“So often in the first half, we’d have open shots, but they were out of system,” EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said. “We weren’t attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line ... and we were settling for perimeter shots and not shooting it particularly well when we were.”
The EHS coaches challenged the team at halftime to get tougher in the second half, not just physically, but mentally.
“We told them that we’ve got to be tough enough to run our stuff,” Nienstedt said, “and when we get it around the goal, we’ve got to be tough enough that when we get bumped, we’re still going to finish and get to the foul line.”
The Lady Spartans got that message.
After two free throws put East ahead, 27-24, less than a minute into the second half, Emporia then went on a 10-2 run in about a minute and a half that shifted all the momentum to the Lady Spartans.
Lexi Hileman got the run started with a three-point play on a driving layup on which East’s Kenzie Andra fouled her. Hileman hit the free throw to tie the game at 27.
After East’s Kristen Rock made a layup, Hileman came through with another three-point play, this time scoring on a stick-back off a Nichole Nabb miss, with the foul called on Rock. This time, Hileman’s free throw gave EHS a 30-29 lead, and the Lady Spartans never trailed again.
The final points for EHS in the game-changing run came on a pair of free throws from Naab and Webb after they were fouled driving to the basket. On East’s six possessions during Emporia’s run, the Lady Hawks committed four fouls and one turnover and made just one shot.
Naab and Webb’s free throws put Emporia ahead, 34-29, with 5:03 left in the third quarter, and by the end of the period, EHS enjoyed a 10-point lead at 44-34.
“We wanted to be more patient on offense, and whenever it got down under the goal, we were stronger,” Webb said.
Emporia’s aggressiveness in the second half began to wear on the Olathe East players, and the frustration began to mount on the sidelines as well. It hit a boiling point when the Olathe East bench was hit with two technical fouls for arguing calls with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter with Emporia leading 51-36.
“You just try to ignore that stuff during the game,” said sophomore Lindy Arndt, who finished with seven points and four rebounds.
Webb made three of the four foul shots after the technicals, and EHS continued to build its lead right up until a free throw by Hileman with 15 seconds left gave the Lady Spartans the final 20-point margin of victory at 63-43.
“I saw us running stuff in the second half that I recognized,” Nienstedt said. “We were tougher mentally by being in system and pounding the ball inside via the pass and the dribble, and we attacked off the bounce a lot better.”
The Lady Spartans have a week off in between games before taking on Gardner-Edgerton Friday at Emporia High.
Emporia girls 63, Olathe East 43
Saturday at White Auditorium
Paul Terry Classic
Olathe East 16 9 9 9 — 43
Emporia 13 11 20 19 — 63
Olathe East (0-2) — Rock 1-2 0-0 2, Andra 2-5 2-2 7, Harris 4-8 3-4 13, Gibson 3-4 2-2 9, Birch 2-3 0-0 4, Lorenzen 0-1 0-0 0, Mullen 0-1 0-0 0, Lapointe 0-3 0-0 0, Bruner 2-3 4-4 8. Totals 14-30 11-12 43.
Emporia (2-0) — Webb 3-6 13-14 19, Arndt 3-10 1-2 7, Naab 5-18 2-4 13, Hileman 2-4 9-12 13, Armitage 0-4 0-0 0, Meza 0-0 0-0 0, VanGundy 5-8 0-0 11, Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Heinrichs 0-6 0-0 0. Totals 18-56 25-32 63.
3-point goals — OE 4-11 (Andra 1-1, Harris 2-6, Gibson 1-1, Birch 0-1, Mullen 0-1, Lapointe 0-1), Emporia 2-13 (Webb 0-1, Naab 1-5, Armitage 0-4, VanGundy 1-3). Rebounds — OE 29 (Bruner 7), Emporia 29 (Hileman 9). Assists — OE 9 (Harris, Birch 2), Emporia 11 (Armitage 6). Turnovers — OE 29, Emporia 15. Total fouls — OE 20, Emporia 14. Technical fouls — OE 2 (bench).