Emporia High girls build big lead, dominate Leavenworth, 57-35
By Michael Ashford
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
LEAVENWORTH — After Emporia High’s Nichole Naab stole the ball from Leavenworth’s Jayme Jackson and took it the length of the court for an easy layup to cap her own personal 10-point scoring run four minutes into the second quarter Tuesday night, Naab had a request for her coach, Bill Nienstedt.
“Coach, I need out,” Naab said to Nienstedt. “I’m so tired.”
Nienstedt subbed Naab out of the game at that point, even though he didn’t want to — “she was just so winded,” Nienstedt said — since Naab had such a hot hand.
Naab’s streak of five consecutive baskets from the 5:47 mark to the 4:09 point in the second period helped the Lady Spartans blow open the game against the Lady Pioneers, as Emporia High (4-3) led 29-11 at that point on its way to a 57-35 victory over Leavenworth (1-8).
“She shoots it so well,” Nienstedt said of Naab, who finished with a game-high 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting, “and the other do a great job of creating shot opportunities for her.”
That Naab’s final basket of the run came off a steal made it the perfect example of how the Lady Spartans won the game. Emporia High’s defense set up its offense time and time again by forcing Leavenworth turnovers that resulted in easy baskets for the Lady Spartans. In all, Leavenworth committed 22 turnovers that led to 18 points for EHS.
“We were working on pressure because we knew we could force some turnovers,” Naab said. “We forced a lot of turnovers, which was our goal.”
The Lady Spartans actually forced 14 of those turnovers in the first half, which helped them race out to a 34-18 lead by halftime. The bevy of easy baskets in transition helped fuel a 54-percent (14-of-26) shooting half for the Lady Spartans, while their defense held Leavenworth to just 17 shot attempts for the entire first half.
“When we defend, we’re really pretty good offensively because it leads to the type of offense that we are best at, which is transition stuff and sharing the ball in transition,” Nienstedt said. “When we did that tonight, we were pretty sharp.”
The Lady Spartans did cool off in the second half though, shooting just 40 percent (8-of-20), and Emporia’s defensive intensity after halftime was a cause for some concern for Nienstedt.
“We’ve got to be a little sharper than we were defensively in the second half,” he said. “I just know we’re capable of better.”
One player who stood out for EHS in particular in the second half was freshman Lindy Arndt. After making her only shot attempt of the first half, Arndt went 4-for-5 from the field after the break to finish with 10 points in the game to go along with three assists.
“I got out there and ran and finished some shots. I was feeling pretty good,” Arndt said. “I think my ability to run out there helps, and it gives my teammates and outlet up the floor to look to.”
The victory gives the Emporia High girls a modest two-game winning streak heading into Friday’s matchup with No. 1-ranked Washburn Rural in Topeka. Though the last two wins for Emporia have come against teams with a combined two wins in Highland Park and Leavenworth, Naab said two wins are better than the alternative.
“They (the two wins) will give us momentum for our next game,” Naab said. “We needed a couple wins to prepare for Washburn on Friday, because they are really good. We’ll have to play really good against them.”
Tuesday at Leavenworth
Emporia 16 18 13 10 — 57
Leavenworth 4 14 8 9 — 35
EMPORIA (4-3)
J. Muckenthaler 1-9 1-2 3, A. Armitage 0-5 2-2 2, R. Bachman 2-6 1-2 6, S. Webb 3-5 5-5 11, N. Naab 8-11 0-0 16, L. Hileman 3-3 1-2 7, L. Arndt 5-6 0-0 10, N. Burdiek 0-1 0-0 0, K. Douglas 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 22-46 12-15 57.
LEAVENWORTH (1-8)
K. Bradley 0-3 0-0 0, J. Jackson 5-9 4-5 14, S. Law 3-5 0-0 6, B. Bowles 5-12 1-2 13, C. Montgomery 0-4 0-0 0, N. Palu 1-3 0-0 2, M. Garvin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-37 5-7 35.
3-point goals — Emporia 1-6 (Muckenthaler 0-1, Armitage 0-3, Bachman 1-1, Naab 0-1), Leavenworth 2-5 (Bradley 0-1, Bowles 2-2, Palu 0-2). Rebounds — Emporia 27 (Muckenthaler 7), Leavenworth 20 (Law 6). Assists — Emporia 11 (Armitage 5), Leavenworth 3 (3 tied at 1). Turnovers — Emporia 15, Leavenworth 22. Total fouls — Emporia 11, Leavenworth 15. Fouled out — None.