The Emporia High girls basketball team is in a transition period, but to an outsider, it might be a little hard to tell.
The Lady Spartans are in the process of changing the offense they have used the past few seasons, going from one that was more guard-oriented to an offense that runs through the low post.
“We’ve gone back to doing some things we used to do offensively that feature a double low post,” coach Bill Nienstedt said. “The emphasis of this offense is a little different than what we’ve ran the last couple of years, where the emphasis previously had been to spread people and beat them off the dribble. This is a little bit more about attacking them inside first, because we knew we had a couple of kids that could do that.”
Those two “kids” in the low post that Nienstedt speaks of are junior Lexi Hileman and senior Sadie Webb.
Through two games this season, Webb and Hileman have shined in the new offense. Webb is averaging 18 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while Hileman has been good for 15.5 points and 10 rebounds per contest. In last week’s Paul Terry Classic, the duo accounted for 46 percent of Emporia’s offense to help the Lady Spartans go 2-0 in the tournament.
But make no mistake: For as good as Webb and Hileman have looked so far this season, it has taken a lot of work to get to this point, and Hileman said there’s a lot more work left.
“Putting in the new offense, it took a little while for us to make the transition from our old two-guard to our new motion offense,” Hileman said. “I know Sadie and I have been working hard everyday in individual offense and really practicing on finishing.”
Few could have anticipated that Webb and Hileman would produce the results that they have so far this year. They’ve even been reliable at the free-throw line, going a combined 31-for-42 from the line in the Paul Terry Classic.
But for Nienstedt, Webb and Hileman’s play was expected.
“I thought they were both really active in our first two games,” Nienstedt said. “It’s been nice. It hasn’t been a surprise, but it’s been really nice.”
With the offense seemingly clicking thanks to Webb and Hileman’s efforts, as Emporia gears up to play host to Gardner-Edgerton at 7 p.m. on Friday at Emporia High, the Lady Spartans have turned their focus more to the defensive end of the floor.
Against Olathe East on Saturday, EHS was routinely beat off the dribble in the first half, allowing East to take a 25-24 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Though the Lady Spartans shored up their defense in the second half enough to eventually run past the Lady Hawks, 63-43, there’s no question the focus in practice this week has been defense.
“We need to get better at guarding on the perimeter,” Webb said, “and not necessarily being out and denying as hard, but just trying to protect the basket more and keeping our man from driving.”
Gardner-Edgerton will present the Lady Spartans with a team that is used to success, as it went to the Class 5A State tournament last season and finished with an 18-5 record.
But Gardner suffered some key graduation losses off last year’s team, which was apparent in its 45-29 season-opening loss to Blue Valley.
Nienstedt said as Friday’s game neared, he had seen his team make an effort to correct the defensive errors that were evident in the first two games, adding that he expected to see improvement against Gardner.
“We’re probably not as quick as we have been the past few years, and quickness will cover up some mistakes defensively,” Nienstedt said. “We’re going to have to be better technically, and the kids have done a good job here the last few practices of working to get better technically.”