It’s safe to say Emporia High girls basketball coach Bill Nienstedt is pleased with his team’s defense.
After all, the Lady Spartans are coming off a championship in the Glacier’s Edge Tournament in which they held their three opponents — Wichita Northwest, Shawnee Mission East and Olathe East — to an average of 33.7 points per game.
“We’re playing better together defensively,” he said. “We’re trusting each other more defensively.
“If you can defend and rebound — and I always put those two together because no defensive possession is done until you get the ball — then you’re always in a game even if you’re not making shots.”
With the exception of a 64-62 overtime loss to Topeka West on Dec. 5, Nienstedt said he thought the Lady Spartans had been playing well since the Christmas break. That includes a 66-43 loss to No. 4-ranked (Class 6A) Washburn Rural.
There’s nothing like a three-game winning streak and a tournament title to perhaps validate those sentiments.
“We are playing the best we’ve played in a long time,” senior Rachael Bachman said. “We’ve had games where we’ve played well, but three games in a row where we’ve played awesome every game, it’s a big thing for us.”
The Lady Spartans (7-4, 1-3 Centennial League) will take that momentum into a road matchup tonight with Hayden (7-3. 4-1), ranked seventh in Class 4A.
In Hayden, the Lady Spartans will face a team used to dominating inside thanks to a wealth of height and size, led by 5-foot-10 junior center Corrinne Stringer.
“That’s not anything new to us,” Bachman said. “We’ve always been the small ones. We just need to keep it going and not let these past three wins take us over and make us think we should win against anyone. Obviously, they (Hayden) will be hard, and we’ll have to play our best.”
Nienstedt said he believed it would all start with defense, which, lucky for the Lady Spartans, has been their specialty as of late.
“We did a really good job of not allowing Olathe East to beat us with dribble penetration, and I think that will be a huge key against Hayden as well,” he said. “Rebounding the ball is going to be really important ... and it’ll be important that we adjust to the defensive changes by them and make sure that we’re all on the same page in the same set.”
As for the EHS boys (6-4, 1-3), they will look to rebound from a disappointing 59-55 loss to rival Washburn Rural last Friday.
Coach Rick Bloomquist said he was concerned about going against the big and physical Hayden Wildcats after losing to a Washburn Rural squad that had the height but not the size that Hayden (9-2, 4-1) has.
“They’re huge,” Bloomquist said. “Washburn Rural was bigger than us, but they weren’t as thick as these guys are. These guys aren’t only tall, but they’re thick.”
After the Spartans saw a 10-point second-half lead whittled away at Rural, the focus became playing more as a team and with greater toughness, both mentally and physically, Bloomquist said.
“We’re going to have to play a lot harder, we’re going to have to play a lot smarter and we’re going to have to play a lot stronger against Hayden if we want to do well,” he said.