By Joey Berlin
berlin@emporiagazette.com
The unselfish offensive play and balanced scoring were there from the start. And after the Emporia High girls stepped up the on-the-ball defense in their opening game Thursday night, they looked like a team that’s good to go for another run at state.
The Spartans opened the second half against Olathe North with a 10-0 run, then answered North’s only two third-quarter points with a subsequent 16-0 run, rolling to an easy 65-31 win on the opening night of the Paul Terry Classic at White Auditorium.
“We weren’t particularly sharp — especially in the latter stages of the second quarter — (we) talked about some things we wanted to do better, (and the) kids responded,” EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said. “So that’s the kind of start you want to get off to. You want to have one where you do need to make an adjustment or two, you do need to challenge your kids. They do need to play well, and I thought our kids did that.”
Lexi Hileman led the Spartans with 14 points, Lindy Arndt and Hilary Heinrichs each added 12, and Courtney Waldner came off the bench to score 11, including nine in the fourth quarter.
Arndt fed other scorers for six assists from her forward position, tying point guard Alli Armitage for the game high in that category. She also added five rebounds and three first-quarter steals, tying her for the lead in those categories. Waldner and Amber Miller also grabbed five boards, and Armitage and Rachelle VanGundy also had three steals apiece.
Four scorers in double figures, and a broad base of contributions from a lot of different players. But even with EHS sharing the ball well in the first half, working patiently when Olathe North went to zone and taking a 29-17 lead to the locker room, Nienstedt wanted the defense stepped up in the second half.
“At halftime, that was the main thing that Coach was talking about, how we needed to guard the ball and defend well, and not let ’em get in the paint so much,” Arndt said.
The message got through, and the Spartans blew the game open.
Arndt scored the first two baskets of the second half: one on a drive through the lane after a Heinrichs kick-out, and another one on a drive after Hileman hit her with a pass from the opposite side of the lane.
Heinrichs then scored on a short jump shot near the baseline off an inbounds-play screen, and an Armitage steal and drive for a layup made it 37-17. A Heinrichs shot in the lane after a long pass from Ashley Leihsing completed the 10-0 run.
VanGundy’s three from the top of the key began the next run, and she later hit Hileman on a well-executed pick-and-roll play for an easy layup to make the score 50-19. A traditional three-point play by Waldner off a pass from Arndt finished off the 16-0 binge to push Emporia’s lead to 36. Olathe North didn’t get its third and fourth points of the second half until a Lindsey Anderson basket with about five-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game.
“When we did get beat off the dribble — I thought first of all that we did a much better job on the dribblers in the third quarter,” Nienstedt said. “And then when we did get beat, we helped early enough that the ball wasn’t already in the paint.”
The Spartans owned the boards, outrebounding the Eagles 37-24, and had 22 assists on 30 field goals. Lindsey Anderson led Olathe North with eight points.
Emporia knows that its next opponent in the Terry Classic round-robin, Olathe South, will be a much tougher challenge. The Falcon girls finished 22-3 last season and opened the Terry Classic on Thursday by easily beating Mill Valley 56-32. Natalie Knight led Olathe South with 17 points, and Kelsey Balcom added 15.
“Well-coached, big, strong athletes, good guard play,” Nienstedt said. “We’ll have to play much, much better.”
Emporia tips off against Olathe South at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at White Auditorium. That matchup will follow Olathe North’s game against Mill Valley at noon.
Thursday at White Auditorium
Olathe North 9 8 2 13 — 32
Emporia 16 13 15 21 — 65
Olathe North (0-1) — Daryn Miller 3-7 0-0 7, Lindsey Anderson 4-4 0-0 8, Haley Downing 2-7 0-0 4, Bre Brenneman 0-4 0-0 0, Sarah Wiesner 1-10 0-0 2, Thomasenia Bouknight 3-7 0-2 6, Ashley Ables 0-1 0-0 0, Nicole Riddle 0-0 0-0 0, Bre Crall 2-3 0-2 4. Totals 15-43 0-4 31.
Emporia (1-0) — Rachelle VanGundy 1-6 0-0 3, Alli Armitage 2-5 0-0 5, Lindy Arndt 5-6 2-2 12, Hilary Heinrichs 6-10 0-0 12, Lexi Hileman 7-13 0-0 14, Janae Scheve 0-0 0-0 0, Makenzie Harder 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Leihsing 1-4 0-0 2, Amber Miller 3-9 0-0 6, Sarah Kolmer 0-1 0-0 0, Courtney Waldner 5-7 1-1 11, Melanie Nuessen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-61 3-3 65.
3-point goals — Olathe North 1-2 (Miller 1-2), Emporia 2-4 (VanGundy 1-2, Armitage 1-2). Rebounds — Emporia 37 (Arndt 5, Miller 5, Waldner 5), Olathe North 24 (Wiesner 6). Assists — Emporia 22 (Armitage 6, Arndt 6), Olathe North 7 (Downing 5). Turnovers — Olathe North 21, Emporia 13. Total fouls — Olathe North 10, Emporia 10. Fouled out — None.