TOPEKA — Two of the Emporia High girls’ old nemeses reared their ugly heads Friday night against Topeka West.
The Lady Spartans’ defense got away from them in the second half against the Lady Chargers, allowing Topeka West (3-3, 2-2 Centennial League) to mount a stirring comeback from an 11-point deficit in the third quarter before going on to defeat EHS, 64-62, in overtime.
“We let that lead slip away because we didn’t defend well,” coach Bill Nienstedt said. “We’ve got to defend and rebound better than we did tonight.”
A running, off-balance jumper in the lane by Jackie Wolfe with 9 seconds left in overtime gave Topeka West a 63-62 lead, and after a free throw by Sarah Henry, Emporia’s desperation heave with 1 second left was intercepted at midcourt by Moji Hassan, and the Lady Chargers escaped with the victory while ending Emporia’s short-lived two-game winning streak.
“We talked about the fact that its not anybody’s fault, it’s all of our fault, from the head coach on down,” Nienstedt said. “We won as a team in the previous two games ... and this one we lost as a full group. We talked about things that we have to do to get better — be physical and get tougher, defense and rebounding.”
Emporia High (2-3, 0-2) had such a large lead in the third quarter thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers from Nichole Naab and Alli Armitage that pushed the Lady Spartans’ 25-18 halftime lead to a 31-20 edge 45 seconds into the second half.
But it was a stretch late in the first half that foreshadowed what was to come for the Lady Spartans.
After Topeka West took an early 4-2 lead on EHS, the Lady Spartans scored the next eight points to go up 10-4 at the end of the first quarter. Emporia’s lead reached 13 points with 1:39 left in the first half when Sadie Webb sank two free throws to put the Lady Spartans ahead 23-10.
But the Lady Chargers put together an 8-2 run to close out the half, which including the last six points, to pull to within seven at 25-18 at halftime.
It was that scoring spurt, Nienstedt said, that turned the tide of the game.
“They scored the last 6 points of the first half, which gave them some hope going into the locker room,” he said. “To me, that was the difference in the ballgame, that stretch at the end of the first half.”
However, it would not be until the fourth quarter that the effects of Topeka West’s late first-half run would be completely felt. Emporia still held a 42-37 lead at the end of three quarters, but like the first half, Topeka West scored six quick points to close the period.
A 3-pointer by Amber Stanley inched Topeka West closer at 44-42, and after hitting one of two free throws, Stanley put Topeka West ahead, 45-44, with a 10-foot jumper with 5:07 left in regulation. The scoring went back and forth until Naab made one of two free throws to give EHS a 53-51 lead with 36 seconds left before Topeka West’s Ja’Nelle Burton hit a turnaround hook over Webb to tie the game and send it into the extra period.
After outrebounding Topeka West 20-17 in the first half, Emporia went on to lose the rebounding battle for the game, 44-32, which including getting out-boarded 21-9 in the second half.
Freshman Lindy Arndt scored 5 points in the bonus period for EHS on two driving mid-range jumpers and a free throw, but the Lady Spartans, plagued by foul trouble, had trouble slowing Burton, who scored 5 points to help the Lady Chargers pull out the victory.
Nienstedt stopped short of calling the loss to Topeka West a step backward for his team, instead opting to hold out judgment for a later date.
“I think you only know those things at the end of the season a lot of times,” he said. We’re not going to think of it this way. It’s a bad loss, there’s not doubt about that, but we’ve got to focus on getting better and trying to get ready to play the next one.”
Nabb finished with 16 points and Arndt had 13 to lead Emporia, while Stanley led all scorers with 19 points.