After 1st-quarter foul-fest, EHS girls defeat T-Birds, 54-40
By Michael Ashford
Saturday, February 3, 2007
It wasn’t the most ideal way for Kira Douglas to get into the game, but she was determined to make the most of her chance.
The senior for Emporia High mostly comes off the bench late in games with the outcome all but decided, but Friday night against Shawnee Heights, thanks to a bevy of Lady Spartan fouls in the first quarter, Douglas got into the game early in the second quarter.
“I was a little nervous at first, but once you start playing, everything kind of settles and you get in the flow of the game and you don’t think about it,” Douglas said. “You just run what you’re supposed to run.”
With three starters saddled with at least two fouls in the first quarter alone, Douglas saw extended action in the second period against the Lady Thunderbirds, giving Emporia coach Bill Nienstedt quality minutes in a 54-40 victory over Shawnee Heights.
Douglas finished the game with three points, the last two coming off a lay-in as time expired.
“Kira has waited her turn here lately,” Nienstedt said, “and when she got a chance to play, she made a great contribution in the second quarter. It was fitting, in fact, that she made the last basket, because she had done such a good job.”
The foul-fest early kept Shawnee Heights in the game for the majority of the first half. Heights’ first nine points came at the free-throw line, as Emporia committed eight fouls in the opening period. At the end of the first quarter, EHS led, 10-9.
“We couldn’t afford any more fouls,” junior Sadie Webb said, “because we were already getting into our bench.”
After that, however, the Lady Spartans settled down defensively, only committing one foul for the rest of the first half. Meanwhile, without the help of the free-throw line, the Lady T-Birds struggled from the field, as they made just two shots in the first half, the first not coming until the 4:21 mark of the second quarter.
“I think we did a good job of playing smart defense and containing them after we got all those fouls,” Webb said. “We stayed off of them a little bit and didn’t pressure as bad. We did better defensively.”
The Lady Spartans went into halftime up 24-13, thanks to an 11-2 run to close out the first half. In the second half, Emporia was efficient on offense, hitting 8 of 16 shots from the field on its way to the 14-point win. EHS also got to the free-throw line 19 times after halftime, making 12 of those shots.
Emporia finished the game with a slight 31-30 edge on the glass, a considerable achievement considering Shawnee Heights had a size advantage down low. After making rebounding a priority in practice this week, Nienstedt said overall he was pleased with his team’s effort on the glass.
“They (Shawnee Heights) got more offensive stick-backs than we wanted, but you’ve got to give the opponent credit,” he said. “They have big kids and they go to the boards hard.
“Overall, I thought we were pretty good.”
Senior Jessica Muckenthaler and sophomore Lexi Hileman led the way for Emporia with 14 points apiece, while Webb grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Tamisha Aldridge scored 10 points to lead Heights, which made just 14 of 46 (31 percent) shots from the field as a team.
Centennial League
Friday at Emporia
Shawnee Heights 9 4 12 15 — 40
Emporia 10 14 18 12 — 54
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS
N. Tomes 1-3 4-6 7, T. Aldridge 3-10 4-6 10, A. Hilderman 0-0 1-2 1, A. Wells 1-5 0-0 2, J. Bigham 4-8 0-0 8, T. Floyd 2-4 2-4 6, J. Sterbenz 1-5 0-0 2, K. Taliaferro 1-4 0-2 2, S. McHenry 0-1 0-0 0, L. Torrez 1-2 0-0 2, A. Guerrero 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 14-46 11-21 40.
EMPORIA (8-5, 2-4 Centennial League)
J. Muckenthaler 3-8 8-11 14, A. Armitage 2-4 2-2 7, R. Bachman 0-4 2-2 2, S. Webb 1-7 4-4 6, N. Naab 3-7 2-4 8, L. Arndt 0-2 0-0 0, L. Hileman 6-6 2-3 14, K. Douglas 1-1 1-2 3, N. Burdiek 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 16-38 21-30 54.
3-point goals — SH 1-5 (Tomes 1-1, Aldridge 0-1, Sterbenz 0-3), Emporia 1-6 (Muckenthaler 0-1, Armitage 1-3, Bachman 0-1, Naab 0-1). Rebounds — SH 30 (Bigham 8), Emporia 31 (Webb 9). Assists — SH 1 (Alridge 1), Emporia 6 (Muckenthaler 3). Turnovers — SH 19, Emporia 15. Total fouls — SH 22, Emporia 15. Fouled out — None.