It might have been a little anticlimactic thanks to coach Bill Nienstedt’s tardiness, but that didn’t make the jump into the Emporia High School swimming pool any less satisfying for the Emporia High girls basketball team.
As is tradition for the Lady Spartans whenever they win the Glacier’s Edge Tournament, the whole team — yes, even the coaches — go for a quick swim to celebrate. The Lady Spartans had plenty to celebrate Saturday, as they won their home tournament for the first time since 2002 with a 52-27 victory over defending champion Olathe East.
The EHS players ran to the pool as soon as the tournament awards were handed out, but had to wait for Nienstedt to finish his post-game radio interviews. Though it took about 10 minutes for him to get there, the excitement had not dwindled.
“Getting the opportunity to jump in the pool was a lot of fun, especially since its my first year.” freshman Lindy Arndt said. “It was a big adrenaline rush.”
Emporia (7-4) won the tournament title thanks to a masterful defensive performance against the Lady Hawks, underscored by a lock-down job by senior guard Jessica Muckenthaler on Olathe East’s Morgan Boyd.
Boyd, who has already signed a Division I letter of intent to play at Arkansas, came into the game averaging more than 16 points per contest. Though Boyd neared her average by scoring a game-high 15 points, it took 15 shot attempts for her to get there, plus another four made free throws.
Credit Muckenthaler, who got the task of guarding Boyd for most of the game, even though Boyd had a height advantage of about five inches.
“Muck did a phenomenal job,” Nienstedt said. “She was so undersized matched up against Boyd, but we knew that Boyd was more comfortable facing the basket, so we went with a perimeter player against her. Jessica just did a great job.”
It was all part of a dominating defensive effort by the Lady Spartans, as they held the Lady Hawks to just 9-of-40 (23 percent) shooting from the field and forced 19 turnovers. Olathe East (8-3) didn’t score more than five points in a quarter until the fourth when the game was out of reach.
“We’ve been really focusing on helping each other and helping the helper on defense, and today, we just had good chemistry out there,” senior Rachael Bachman said.
At the start of the game, it appeared both teams were headed for rough offensive outings. Neither team scored in the first 4 minutes, 15 seconds until Arndt hit a running jumper in the lane to make it 2-0. The first quarter ended with Emporia holding a 9-5 edge.
“We did come out kind of slow, but I think that was just the nerves of being in the championship game,” said Bachman, who finished with 11 points. “Once the game got going, we calmed down and started playing basketball.”
Did they ever. Emporia came out firing in the second quarter and completely overwhelmed Olathe East. A Muckenthaler lay-in and free throw 14 seconds into the quarter sparked the EHS offense, as the Lady Spartans outscored East, 18-5, to go into halftime ahead, 27-10.
During the period, Arndt scored eight of her 10 first-half points by going a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and 1-for-1 at the free-throw line. Arndt finished with a team-high 12 points, and her first-half showing was one to behold, Nienstedt said.
“It was just a really special performance by her in the first half,” he said. “We’ve known she’s capable of that, and she came ready to play.”
Added Arndt: “In the first half, I was kind of anxious and nervous and then my nerves went away and I just played basketball.”
Out of halftime, Emporia’s defense suffered no drop-off in again holding the Lady Hawks to just five points in the third quarter. By the fourth quarter, EHS was sitting on a 38-15 lead, and Nienstedt began substituting in his bench.
As the clock ran out at the end, the Lady Spartans’ starters who were on the bench at that point stormed the court to celebrate. Cheers were loudest as the team accepted the championship trophy, and again when junior Nichole Naab and Muckenthaler were named to the All-Tournament team. Boyd was the tournament MVP.
“It feels great,” Bachman said. “It was really nice getting to the finals, and the bonus was winning it all.”
Glacier’s Edge Tournament
Saturday at Emporia High
Olathe East 5 5 5 12 — 27
Emporia 9 18 11 14 — 52
EMPORIA (7-4)
J. Muckenthaler 2-5 2-3 6, A. Armitage 2-7 0-3 6, R. Bachman 4-7 3-4 11, S. Webb 3-5 4-5 10, N. Naab 1-6, 2-6 5, L. Hileman 1-1 0-5 2, L. Arndt 4-6 3-5 12, R. VanGundy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-38 14-31 52.
OLATHE EAST (8-3)
A. Miller 1-6 1-1 3, B. Kalinoski 1-3 0-0 2, E. Birch 0-5 0-0 0, M. Boyd 5-15 4-6 15, P. Gibson 1-7 2-2 4, C. Bruner 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 9-40 8-11 27.
3-point goals — Olathe East 1-11 (Miller 0-4, Boyd 1-6, Gibson 0-1), Emporia 4-10 (Armitage 2-6, Bachman 0-1, Naab 1-2, Arndt 0-1). Rebounds — Olathe East 26 (Bruner 7), Emporia 36 (Muckenthaler 8). Assists — Olathe East 2 (Birch 2), Emporia 4 (Bachman 2). Turnovers — Olathe East 19, Emporia 15. Total fouls — Olathe East 22, Emporia 12. Fouled out — Olathe East: Birch.