WICHITA — Tears streamed from the eyes of nearly every Emporia High girls basketball player just minutes after their game with Bishop Carroll ended Wednesday night.
There were hugs all around, and parents and fans came down out of the stands to be with the Lady Spartans.
Then, senior Rachael Bachman asked the question: “Why are we all crying? We just won!”
They were tears of joy that filled the eyes of the Lady Spartans and many Emporia fans, as in one of the more remarkable comebacks in Emporia High history, the Lady Spartans erased a 15-point halftime deficit against Carroll and turned it into a 55-53 victory in the first round of the Class 5A Sub-State.
“I’m kind of speechless. It feels amazing,” Bachman said. “We came through a lot of adversity.”
The game was not decided until the final shot, as Bishop Carroll’s Abby Fawcett’s half-court heave bounced to the right of the rim off the backboard and sent the EHS players, coaches and fans into a frenzy.
“It was as good a comeback performance as I’ve ever been associated with,” EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said.
It seemed fate was against the Lady Spartans even before the game began, as their bus broke down on the way to Wichita, forcing the team to spend an hour on the side of the road.
Once the game started, the Lady Eagles weren’t much kinder to the EHS girls, as Carroll hit five first-half 3-pointers and used its full-court press defense to force 17 Lady Spartan turnovers in the first 16 minutes.
Not only that, but the Lady Spartans had to deal with the loss of their second-leading scorer, senior Jessica Muckenthaler — who took an elbow to the face on a layup attempt just minutes into the game and had to leave — and Bachman, who had to sit for a good portion of the first half after picking up two quick fouls in less than a minute of play.
“We got rattled when we realized we were playing without those two seniors,” Nienstedt said. “We didn’t know how to handle adversity.”
As such, Carroll used runs of 14-0 and 7-0 to go into halftime up, 32-17, and though not as bad as last year when Emporia found itself down 35-8 at the half to Bishop Carroll in the Sub-State championship game, doubt still entered the EHS players’ minds.
“I think it (doubt) kind of crept into some of our minds after they got out to that big lead,” junior Sadie Webb said. “We all remembered last year when we were down like that.”
An intense locker room speech at the half from Nienstedt — “I told them, ‘I love you guys, but I am not going to stand here and be nice because it’s the last game of the season, because it’s not going to be,’” Nienstedt said. — ignited a spark in the Lady Spartans, as they burst out of the break to outscore Carroll 21-8 in the third quarter to pull themselves back into the game.
An initial 8-0 run to start the second half inched Emporia closer at 32-25, and then Webb took over the game. Webb scored nine of Emporia’s next 11 points — half of her 18-point second-half performance — that closed Carroll’s lead to 37-36 with 3 minutes, 55 seconds left in the third period.
“She played amazing,” Bachman said of Webb. “She took it in tough and hit a ton of shots, and they weren’t just open shots. She was guarded, and she made shots and hit her free throws.”
Emporia ended the third period down only two at 40-38 after not committing a single turnover in the third quarter.
“We were more careful with the ball,” Webb said. “We didn’t let their pressure get to us as much.”
The two teams battled back and forth for most of the fourth quarter until Emporia tied the game at 50 on a turnaround jumper in the lane by Webb.
But the comeback was not without yet another cost for EHS, as minutes earlier, Lexi Hileman, who had been a rebounding force all game long for Emporia, went down in a scramble for a loose ball and injured her left knee. She had to be helped from the court, leaving Emporia another player short.
Two free throws by Carroll’s Nicole Walden put BC ahead, 52-50, before Emporia’s Rachelle VanGundy hit a long jumper to tie it again. Another free throw by Walden gave Carroll its last lead of the game, as Webb hit a layup on the other end with 17 seconds left to give Emporia its first lead of the game at 54-53.
“I just knew that I had to step up,” said Webb, who finished with a game-high 24 points.
A missed jumper by Fawcett at the other end was rebounded by Emporia’s Alli Armitage, who dished it off to teammate Lindy Arndt. Arndt was fouled with 4 seconds left and went on to make 1 of 2 free throws to close out the scoring.
“Toughness. I thought we showed toughness,” Nienstedt said. “Our kids made plays. Our kids stepped up and made plays by themselves.”
Emporia advances to play Kapaun Mt. Carmel (16-5), which beat Wichita West 87-35 Wednesday night, in the Sub-State championship game on Friday at 7:45 p.m. at Emporia High School.
Sub-State Round 1
Wednesday at Wichita
Emporia 9 8 21 18 — 55
Bishop Carroll 22 10 8 13 — 53
EMPORIA (14-7)
J. Muckenthaler 0-1 1-2 2, A. Armitage 1-5 0-0 3, R. Bachman 1-2 0-0 3, S. Webb 8-12 8-9 24, N. Naab 4-11 3-4 11, L. Arndt 2-10 1-2 5, L. Hileman 2-3 2-6 6, R. VanGundy 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 19-46 15-23 55.
BISHOP CARROLL (14-7)
A. Fawcett 4-13 1-2 10, J. Marshall 3-11 3-4 11, A. Henning 2-7 1-2 6, T. Zienkewicz 1-5 1-1 3, B. Bell 2-3 2-2 6, N. Walden 3-5 5-7 11, B. Elman 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 17-48 13-18 53.
3-point goals — Emporia 2-5 (Armitage 1-2, Bachman 1-2, Naab 0-1), BC 6-15 (Fawcett 1-6, Marshall 2-4, Henning 1-2, Elman 2-3). Rebounds — Emporia 34 (Hileman 9), BC 30 (Walden 11). Assists — Emporia 9 (Arndt 4), BC 6 (Fawcett 3). Turnovers — Emporia 21, BC 22. Total fouls — Emporia 15, BC 16. Fouled out — Emporia: Bachman.