Senior guard makes 8 treys and scores 30 in a blowout win
When she finally had a chance to take a breath during a timeout midway through the first half, Andrea Leiker sat on the bench and smiled.
Leiker had a lot to smile about. She broke a 6-all tie minutes into the game with a 3-pointer, made another 3-pointer a minute later and during a 5:06 span, Leiker made seven straight 3-pointers, outscoring Missouri Western 21-7 by herself.
“You kind of get in a rhythm,” Leiker said, “and that’s how it goes.”
As Leiker goes, so goes the Lady Hornets, who like Leiker got out of a bit of a shooting slump in a 111-67 victory over Missouri Western on Saturday at White Auditorium.
Leiker, who came into the game shooting 21.7 percent from beyond the arc, made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points. She broke her previous career high (22) in the first half when she made two free throws with 1:59 left to give her 23 points.
Leiker was one 3-pointer short of Cassondra Boston’s single-game record of nine, but although it’s not recorded in the ESU record book, her seven in one half and seven straight had to be school records.
“We’ve had players really shoot it well in games, but I don’t think we’ve ever had a player have a streak like that within a half,” coach Brandon Schneider said.
Leiker helped Emporia State get out of a bit of an offensive slump against the Griffons. The Lady Hornets averaged 93.6 points in their first five games, but they scored only 70 in a loss at Texas A&M-Kingsville a week before and 71 in a win at home against Northwest Missouri on Wednesday.
One of the Lady Hornets problems had been their outside shooting. Last season, Emporia State was one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country, and ESU entered the Missouri Western game making only 30.2 percent of its threes.
The Lady Hornets made only 3-of-21 3-pointers against Northwest and 5-of-23 against Kingsville. Coach Brandon Schneider said after the Northwest game that he didn’t mind how many threes his team shot, but they had not been shooting them in the flow of the offense.
“You have to really understand flow of the game and obviously when people are getting in rhythm and making shots, I don’t have any problem with people taking threes,” Schneider said.
Schneider obviously didn’t have any problems with Leiker’s shooting the first half. Once she made the first few, Schneider started calling designed plays for Leiker, and he did not take her out of the game for the first time until 7:13 remained in the first half after she finally missed.
Leiker’s seven straight 3-pointers helped Emporia State build a 21-point lead that grew to 33 by halftime. She scored 12 straight at one point, and scored 21 of her team’s 28 points during her shooting spree.
“It felt pretty good, obviously,” Leiker said. “I have to give some credit to my teammates. They created shots for me.”
Leiker’s teammates continued to try to make the extra pass until it ended up in her hands during the streak.
“She was on fire,” Alli Volkens said. “I was smiling, having fun watching it go in.”
Emporia State improved to 2-0 in the MIAA with the win, one of four teams with a perfect league record. The Lady Hornets have a week off before traveling to Central Missouri on Saturday.
Schneider still sees improvements that need to be made defensively and with his team’s lack of consistent intensity throughout an entire game. But one concern can now be scratched off the list. Leiker, who missed two weeks early in the season with a stress fracture in her foot, is feeling healthy and found her shot again on Saturday.
“That’s a great feeling,” Schneider said. “If you’ve ever played, there’s nothing that feels better than, ‘if I can get this thing off, it’s going to go in.’ Those are things she needs to remember and she’s certainly capable of doing that on more than just one occasion.”
Saturday at White Auditorium
Missouri Western 30 37 — 67
Emporia State 63 48 — 111
MISSOURI WESTERN (0-6, 0-2 MIAA)
Luteyn 1-3 0-0 2, Koch 2-4 1-2 6, Ford 5-13 6-8 17, Simmons 0-0 0-1 0, Nolke 1-7 0-0 2, Houchinn 2-5 2-3 6, Gawatz 0-0 0-0 0, Saline 1-4 0-0 2, Rickels 0-3 1-2 1, Lyons 1-4 0-0 2, Boone 7-11 2-2 17, Schneider 0-2 0-0 0, Bush 5-7 0-0 12. Totals 25-63 12-18 67.
EMPORIA STATE (7-1, 2-0)
Edwards 3-6 0-0 6, Volkens 6-11 4-4 16, Boston 4-13 6-7 16, Leiker 8-13 6-6 30, Lenard 4-10 4-6 12, Tucker 2-2 3-4 9, Augustyn 0-1 0-0 0, Corker 3-4 3-4 9, Miller 1-4 3-4 5, Kisner 1-1 0-0 3, Krueger 0-0 0-0 0, Renberg 1-5 3-4 5. Totals 33-70 32-39 111.
3-point goals — Missouri Western 5-18 (Bush 2-2, Koch 1-1, Boone 1-2, Ford 1-3, Houchin 0-1, Saline 0-1, Lyons 0-1, Schneider 0-2, Rickels 0-2, Nolke 0-3), Emporia State 13-25 (Leiker 8-13, Tucker 2-2, Boston 2-7, Kisner 1-1, Lenard 0-1, Augustyn 0-1). Fouled out — Missouri Western: Simmons; Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Missouri Western 30 (Ford 6), Emporia State 48 (Volkens 12). Assists — Missouri Western 11 (Simmons 4), Emporia State 22 (Corker 7). Total fouls — Missouri Western 28, Emporia State 14. Att. — 2,205.