The Emporia High girls held an hour-long practice on Monday, and 45 of those minutes were spent working on slowing the tempo on offense in preparation for Tuesday night’s game against No. 4-ranked (Class 6A) Washburn Rural.
The idea was that if Washburn Rural’s shooters didn’t touch the ball as much, they couldn’t score as much.
The practice paid off in a big way, as the Lady Spartans used a slow-it-down offense to hang with Rural and then turned it on when it mattered at the end of the game to upset the Junior Blues, 44-42.
“The game plan was to slow everything down so that on defense, they would get tired,” said junior Nichole Naab, who finished with a game-high 16 points. “Some players won’t play as hard on defense after you throw it around two or three times. They’ll get lazy, and it makes it easier to score.”
The victory represented a 25-point swing for the Lady Spartans (10-6, 4-5 Centennial League), who lost to the Junior Blues by 23 points back on Jan. 19.
“I told them (the players) to enjoy the heck out of this one,” coach Bill Nienstedt said.
The methodical approach on offense allowed the Lady Spartans to push out to an 18-11 lead five minutes into the second quarter, thanks in part to six consecutive points from Alli Armitage on a three-point play, a left-baseline jumper and another free throw to start the second quarter. Then Rural went on a 9-2 run to close the half to pull to within one at 21-20.
In the third period, both teams went back and forth in scoring until a two by Kim Tucker gave Rural (12-4, 7-3) its first lead, 28-27, since the 5:51 mark of the second quarter. Emporia’s Lexi Hileman hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 28, and then the Junior Blues went on a 10-0 scoring spurt to go up, 38-28, just 30 seconds into the fourth quarter.
“We played OK in the first quarter, and in the second and third quarter, we just didn’t go out and guard like we were supposed to,” senior Jessica Muckenthaler said.
Not helping the Lady Spartans’ cause during Rural’s run was the fact that EHS made just 3 of 10 free throws to start the second half.
The two-minute span that saw the EHS girls fall behind by 10 points was enough for a visibly-upset Nienstedt to call a timeout to do a little “motivational speaking.”
“We called a little motivational meeting,” Nienstedt said. “We were kind of playing not to lose for some reason. I had hoped that a little chewing would get them mad.”
Whatever Nienstedt said must have gotten through to his players, because after that timeout, the Lady Spartans stormed back with a 14-0 run over the game’s next six minutes. Leading the charge was Naab, who got the run started with a three from the left wing.
A little more than a minute later, she hit a jumper from the right baseline and then knocked down a driving layup in the lane while being fouled by Rural’s Allison Babcock. Though she missed the free throw, her seven-point flurry helped pull EHS to within one at 38-37.
“We were being patient on offense for most of the game,” Naab said, “but I knew we had to score quickly. I got open and started shooting.”
A jumper by Sadie Webb one minute later gave the Lady Spartans the lead for good at 41-38, and Emporia held on for the victory.
“We just had to play hard,” Muckenthaler said. “Our team works hard, and we’ll fight until the end.”
Armitage was the only other Lady Spartan in double-figure scoring with 10 points, while Alexa Bordewick led Rural with 11 points.
Centennial League
Tuesday at EHS
Washburn Rural 7 13 13 9 — 42
Emporia 5 16 7 16 — 44
WASHBURN RURAL (12-4, 7-3 Centennial League)
M. Barrett 3-6 0-0 8, B. Silovsky 2-6 0-0 4, L. Riley 3-5 0-0 6, P. Ladenburger 0-0 0-0 0, A. Bordewick 3-7 2-3 11, S. Longstaff 2-7 0-0 5, K. Turner 0-3 0-0 0, K. Tucker 1-1 0-0 2, A. Babcock 2-6 0-0 4, L. Caby 0-2 0-0 0, K. Lewis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-47 4-5 42.
EMPORIA (10-6, 4-5)
J. Muckenthaler 1-3 3-4 5, A. Armitage 3-6 3-7 10, R. Bachman 0-2 1-2 1, S. Webb 1-2 0-3 2, N. Naab 6-7 2-3 16, L. Hileman 1-3 2-5 4, L. Arndt 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 14-27 11-24 44.
3-point goals — WR 6-20 (Barrett 2-5, Bordewick 3-7, Longstaff 1-5, Turner 0-2, Babcock 0-1), Emporia 3-5 (Armitage 1-2, Naab 2-2, Arndt 0-1). Rebounds — WR 27 (Riley 9), Emporia 22 (Bachman 6). Assists — WR 6 (Caby, Lewis 2), Emporia 5 (Armitage 2). Turnovers — WR 11, Emporia 13. Total fouls — WR 17, Emporia 9. Fouled out — WR: Bordewick.