When Emporia High girls basketball coach Bill Nienstedt starts dancing after a game, you can bet he feels pretty good about the way his team just played.
As it was, the Lady Spartans’ 53-42 victory over Hayden Friday night was enough to get a little jig out of Nienstedt.
“He came into the locker room dancing,” junior guard Alli Armitage said, “so you know it’s an awesome win when he comes in and is in a better mood than us.”
In a game that had all the feeling of a late-season battle for bragging rights and playoff berths, the second-ranked (Class 5A) Lady Spartans held up their end of the bargain by overcoming a sloppy start on their way to securing a perfect 5-0 record headed into winter break.
On the strength of a game-high 21 points from senior Nichole Naab, Emporia (5-0, 2-0 Centennial League) erased what was a nine-point first-quarter deficit and turned it into a statement-making 11-point victory over the previously unbeaten and 10th-ranked (Class 4A) Lady Wildcats (3-1, 2-1).
“It had a big-game feel,” Nienstedt said. “We worked very hard this week — harder than they wanted to work at times. I think it’s so important that your kids believe that they have worked harder and maybe deserve to win in these types of games.”
Early on, it looked as if Emporia wanted none of what Hayden was bringing.
After taking an initial 2-0 lead, the Lady Spartans proceeded to commit six turnovers to allow Hayden to jump out to an 8-2 lead. With Armitage, Emporia’s starting point guard, in foul trouble, EHS looked ragged offensively the entire first quarter, as backups Brittany Meza and Rachelle VanGundy fared no better against Hayden’s pesky defense. The Lady Wildcats got up, 13-4, before VanGundy hit a free throw to make it 13-5 after one quarter.
After a week of hearing how good Hayden would be, Armitage said Emporia’s early struggles could be attributed to pre-game jitters.
“Everybody was pretty nervous,” she said. “We were going too fast. Our nerves got to us.”
Finally, though, EHS snapped out of its funk, thanks in large part to two big shots by Armitage.
Naab’s third basket of the game drew EHS to within six at 13-7, and not long after, Armitage picked up her third foul of the half.
Nienstedt, desperate for a player to get Emporia’s offense going, left his starter in the game. Armitage made the most of it by hitting a pair of 3-pointers sandwiched around a basket by Hayden’s Lindsay Biggs that brought the Lady Spartans right back into the game at 15-13.
“Somebody needed to take some shots to get us going,” Armitage said. “I was there, and I just decided to take them. That got us on a nice run.”
Eventually, Emporia tied the game at 17 with a Naab basket — she finished the first half with 10 points — and Emporia went into the locker room down by just one at 20-19.
The Lady Spartans had survived a dismal first quarter to make a game out of it heading into the second half.
“We were maybe a little too keyed up,” Nienstedt said. “We were just trying to find somebody who could get us into our offense and wouldn’t be frantic. As soon as we got Alli back in (after her early foul trouble), she made a couple of shots and settled down, and that was big.”
After halftime, it was Naab who brought the Lady Spartans all the way back — and then some.
The two teams traded baskets to start the third quarter before Naab gave Emporia its first lead since the early going with a pair of baskets on baseline drives — on one she was fouled and made the free throw — that put EHS ahead, 26-22.
Emporia would never trail again. Naab went on to finish the second half perfect shooting-wise, going 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 at the free-throw line.
“We just needed that kick in the butt. We needed someone to lead,” Naab said. “I was just trying to help us.”
Armitage knocked down her third 3-pointer of the game with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter and then Sadie Webb connected on a pair of free throws to give EHS its biggest lead at 48-32. Hayden made things interesting after that with a 9-0 run that closed the gap to 48-41 with 2 1/2 minutes to go, but the Lady Wildcats could only manage one free throw the rest of the way.
For the game, the Emporia High defense smothered Hayden. After starting the game hot, the Lady Wildcats finished by hitting just 16 of 46 shots, good for 35-percent shooting. Meanwhile, Emporia finished the game shooting 53 percent from the field (19-for-36), remarkable considering the Lady Spartans’ ugly start.
“We made them guard us, and we guarded them really good,” Armitage said. “We slowed down and ran our stuff.”
Emporia girls 53, Hayden 42
Friday at EHS
Hayden 13 7 9 13 — 42
Emporia 5 14 20 14 — 53
Hayden (3-1, 2-1 Centennial League) — Luebbe 4-12 0-0 11, DeMotte 1-5 0-0 2, Biggs 5-9 3-4 14, Montgomery 3-8 0-0 6, Stringer 0-2 3-7 3, Sommer 0-4 0-0 0, Reid 3-6 0-0 6. Totals 16-46 6-11 42.
Emporia (5-0, 2-0) — Armitage 3-7 1-3 10, Webb 3-5 2-2 8, Arndt 2-5 2-2 6, Naab 8-10 5-5 21, Hileman 1-2 0-1 2, Meza 0-3 0-0 0, Heinrichs 1-1 1-1 3, VanGundy 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 19-36 12-16 53.
3-point goals — Hayden 4-16 (Luebbe 3-8, DeMotte 0-2, Biggs 1-1, Montgomery 0-3, Sommer 0-2), Emporia 3-9 (Armitage 3-5, Meza 0-3, VanGundy 0-1). Rebounds — Hayden 24 (Stringer 7), Emporia 29 (Arndt 7). Assists — Hayden 6 (Montgomery 3), Emporia 10 (Meza 3). Turnovers — Hayden 13, Emporia 16. Total fouls — Hayden 16, Emporia 13. Fouled out — Emporia: Webb.