TOPEKA — Emporia High’s Nichole Naab got the ball at the top of the key with 30 seconds left and her team trailing, 47-45.
She squared up, eyed the basket — and then she saw the hand coming straight at her.
Breanna Lewis, a 6-foot-5 center for Seaman, had been a thorn in the Lady Spartans’ side all game long, and she had just come off a screen and was closing on Naab fast with arms extended.
Naab got a hurried shot off, but Lewis had forced Naab to alter her attempt just enough. The ball bounced off the the left side of the rim and straight up into the air before hitting the chain over the goal, which gave the ball back to Seaman.
“I thought it was going in,” Naab said. “That was a big girl with a big hand out there.”
That’s what it was like for the EHS girls, who might have nightmares about Lewis after she had eight points and eight rebounds in a 50-45 Seaman victory. More importantly though, Lewis altered countless Lady Spartan shots throughout the whole game.
“We knew she was a giant and that she was going to try and come out and block all of our shots,” sophomore Lexi Hileman said.
When Lewis wasn’t blocking shots or forcing EHS to at least change its shot selection, the Lady Vikings, who played four players 6-foot or taller, passed over the EHS defense for multiple easy baskets.
Whenever Lewis or forward Aubree Gustin would get the ball down low, the EHS defenders had to double team. But thanks to their ability to see over the Emporia defense, Lewis and Gustin made pass after pass to cutting teammates down the lane for layups.
“When we tried to double on Lewis or Gustin or help weak-side, they would send one girl right to the basket,” Hileman said, “and we would be in a situation where we had to decide if we wanted to help on the big or help on the cutter.”
However, the Lady Spartans (9-6, 3-5 Centennial League) hung with the Lady Vikings (9-6, 5-4) the entire game thanks to scrappy defense and the mid-range shooting of Naab and junior Sadie Webb.
Forced away from the basket because of Seaman’s height advantage, Naab and Webb combined for 31 points, with most coming on an array of shots from just inside the three-point arc.
“It was difficult to get shots close to the basket. We had to do a lot of head fakes because if we didn’t, we would get blocked every time,” Naab said. “It helped when we penetrated and pitched out, because we got a lot of outside shots to fall.”
The score flip-flopped throughout, with Seaman’s biggest lead at five and Emporia’s at four before both teams ended the third quarter tied at 38. Two minutes into the fourth quarter, the score was still tied at 42, and then Seaman went on a mini 4-0 burst to give itself some slight separation.
The two teams traded baskets and a free throw to get it to 47-45, which set up Naab’s missed 3-pointer out of a timeout.
“It took us a little longer to get organized than I would have hoped for, but that was the play we wanted to run,” EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said. “You’ve got to give the Lewis girl credit. She jumped off of her man and got a hand in the face, and it’s a big ol’ hand. I think Nic knocks that down if she doesn’t have to shoot it over Lewis.”
Seaman hit 3 of 4 free throws to make it 50-45 to end the game.
Not helping Emporia’s cause was that the team was battling illness and foul trouble all night long, which forced the Lady Spartans to play tentatively at times.
“I thought it really hurt our ability to pressure them. You combine our foul trouble with our health situation, and it was tough,” Nienstedt said. “I was proud of our kids that they kept battling back and battling back.”
Centennial League
Friday at Seaman
Emporia 13 13 12 7 — 45
Seaman 12 12 14 12 — 50
EMPORIA (9-6, 3-5 Centennial League)
J. Muckenthaler 1-5 2-2 4, A. Armitage 1-4 0-2 2, R. Bachman 0-6 3-4 3, S. Webb 5-9 3-4 13, N. Naab 7-10 3-4 18, L. Arndt 1-5 0-0 2, L. Hileman 1-6 1-2 3. Totals 16-45 12-18 45.
SEAMAN (9-6, 5-4)
S. Millard 2-5 7-9 11, A. Horton 0-2 0-2 0, C. Hughes 2-6 4-4 8, B. Lewis 3-8 2-2 8, A. Gustin 8-16 6-10 22, R. Solis 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 15-40 20-29 50.
3-point goals — Emporia 1-7 (Muckenthaler 0-1, Armitage 0-2, Bachman 0-1, Naab 1-2, Arndt 0-1), Seaman 0-1 (Hughes 0-1). Rebounds — Emporia 29 (Bachman 7), Seaman 32 (Gustin 11). Assists — Emporia 8 (Muckenthaler 4), Seaman 7 (Millard 3). Turnovers — Emporia 14, Seaman 15. Total fouls — Emporia 21, Seaman 14. Fouled out — None.