ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Michelle Stueve knew exactly where to start with her answer.
Shortly after Emporia State’s 63-53 loss to No. 3 Missouri Western Saturday, the junior was asked where her team needed the most improvement.
It didn’t take long for her response — or her frustration — to come out.
“I feel like sometimes late in the game — especially when we’re still in the game — we just give up,” Stueve said. “We let them throw the punches at us, and we don’t take it aggressive.”
Indeed, after holding a 45-40 lead with 7:58 remaining, the Lady Hornets seemed to lose their fight late. ESU was especially out of sync offensively, scoring just one field goal in the next 7 minutes, 53 seconds.
Western took advantage, as the Griffons went on an 18-4 run to take a 58-49 advantage and control in the 10-point victory.
“We don’t have to be like that,” Stueve said. “We’re just as good as anybody else in this league. Not taking away anything from anybody, but we should be throwing some punches too and not just backing down.”
The loss left ESU at 12-4 overall and 5-2 in the MIAA. Meanwhile, Western improved its mark to 18-0 overall and 8-0 in the conference.
“We just really need to fight and get things together,” ESU forward Casey Henningsen said. “Nothing’s out of our grasp yet.”
The Lady Hornets were haunted by scoring droughts at crucial times — with one coming at the end of the game and the other at the beginning.
ESU started off ice-cold from the floor, making just 1 of its 18 shots in the opening 9 minutes, 22 seconds. The only points during the stretch came on a Cassondra Boston lay-in and a Stueve free throw, as the Lady Hornets fell behind 10-3 in the earlygoing.
“In the first half we stood around a lot,” Henningsen said, “and didn’t run our motion the way we’d like to.”
ESU actually put itself back in the game with defense. Starting at the 8:11 mark, the Lady Hornets held Western scoreless for the next 6 minutes and 20 seconds, as the Griffons were 0-for-6 shooting with four turnovers during the stretch.
Still, the Lady Hornets only managed a 10-0 run, taking a 20-12 lead but failing to fully capitalize on an opportunity.
“In this environment, against a team that good, when the door’s open, you’ve got to run through it,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “We didn’t. I don’t think you’re going to catch them playing that poorly very often.”
ESU led 21-17 at halftime, with Western’s Jill Johnson single-handedly keeping MWSU in it.
The forward was 6-for-7 in the first half, scoring 13 of her team’s 17 points. Her teammates combined to go just 2-of-20 from the field (10 percent) in the opening 20 minutes.
“I thought we really had a chance to take a significant lead,” Schneider said, “and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Henningsen scored six points in the first 2:13 of the second half, leading ESU on an 8-2 run to take its largest lead at 29-20.
Western started coming out of its offensive slumber soon after.
Forward Inga Buzoka — who averages 17 points per game — made her first lay-in at the 17:32 mark.
She would dominate the paint late, scoring 16 points in the final 9 minutes, 28 seconds of game time to lead her team.
Meanwhile, ESU might have relied on Stueve a little too much down the stretch. She scored 12 of the team’s final 18 points but had trouble finding any open space for shots.
“I think we have a tendency to stand around and watch Michelle,” Schneider said, “or stand around and wait for her to do it.”
Stueve finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds but made just 4 of her 16 shots from the floor. Henningsen was the only other Lady Hornet in double figures with 10.
Johnson’s 21 points and nine rebounds led Western. She finished 10-of-14 from the field in her 36 minutes of action.
The good news for the Lady Hornets is they won’t have to wait long for another crack at the Griffons. The two teams are slated to play a week from Saturday at White Auditorium.
“I think we all come out of this game feeling that we beat ourselves,” Henningsen said. “Who’s the better team? We don’t know. We feel like we could give them a run for their money; we just couldn’t do things the way we normally do them.”
“That’s the good thing about our conference — you always get another round,” Stueve said, “but we have some fixing to do.”