There’s simply no denying it — the Emporia High girls basketball team wants a little revenge.
Heading into tonight’s Sub-State matchup against Bishop Carroll in Wichita, the Lady Spartans are out to turn the tables on last year’s 57-37 Sub-State loss to — you guessed it — Bishop Carroll.
In that game, Carroll raced out to a 35-8 halftime lead and forced 24 total Lady Spartan turnovers in a dismal showing for the Emporia girls.
Senior Rachael Bachman had to endure last year’s season-ending loss to the Lady Eagles. Just thinking about that game brings a grimace to Bachman’s face.
“We played terrible. It was just bad,” Bachman said. “We didn’t show up to play, and we got killed.
“This is a chance to make up for that.”
With a crack at Carroll to open this year’s Sub-State tournament, even Emporia’s head coach, Bill Nienstedt, admitted that he expected the thought of last year’s game to add a little bounce in his players’ steps tonight on the court.
“I think we all are motivated by it slightly. It would be a lie to tell you it doesn’t,” Nienstedt said. “It’s human nature to want to prove yourself if you get the chance when you feel like you didn’t do very well before.”
But while last year might serve up some motivation for the Lady Spartans (13-7), there’s no denying that this year’s Emporia girls team is quite a bit different than the one that suffered the 20-point Sub-State setback a season ago.
While last year’s team never won more than two games in a row, this season, the EHS girls have won three games in a row twice and enter Sub-State having won 6 of their last 8 games.
Much of the late-season success can be attributed to EHS playing better defense, as in the final eight games of the regular season, the Lady Spartans have held opponents to 42.5 points per game on just 37-percent shooting.
“We really improved here at the end of the season,” Bachman said. “Defensively, we went out and hustled and got after it, and that made us better on the offensive end.
“We have a good feeling going into this (Sub-State) because we have been playing so well.”
However, Nienstedt said the recent stretch of quality defensive play might have come from a change in philosophy on offense, one that helped limit the number of possessions the oft-undersized Lady Spartans had to spend on defense.
“We’re taking just a little bit more time offensively, and that means a few less trips that you have to go down and guard,” he said. “It also allows you to play with a little more energy at the defensive end. We’re still trying to push the ball and get easy baskets, but once it’s five-on-five, we’ve been a little better as of late of making the other team guard us a little longer.”
In Bishop Carroll (14-6), the EHS girls’ offense must adapt to a Lady Eagles team that will likely throw a 1-2-2 zone out on the court, making patience on offense even more of a factor for Emporia.
“We’re going to have to do a good job of handling their unique zone defensively. We’ve been practicing against seven or eight kids playing zone defense in an effort to be prepared,” Nienstedt said. “You just don’t see that many people play the defense that they do.”
The winner of tonight’s game advances to play the winner of the Kapaun Mt. Carmel/Wichita West game. For the Emporia High girls, a victory would not only mean sweet revenge, but it would also mean a trip back home for the Sub-State championship game.
“I want to play another home game of course, because it’s my senior year,” Bachman said. “We want to get to State, but to get there, you’ve got to win that first one.”