Emporia State guard Andrea Leiker had the best two-game stretch of her career last week and one of the greatest 5-minute stretches in Emporia State history.
Leiker was rewarded on Monday when she was named the MIAA player of the week for her play in Emporia State’s wins at home against Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western.
Leiker averaged 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 2.0 assists as the Lady Hornets started MIAA play 2-0.
Against Northwest, Leiker matched her career highs in both points (22) and steals (4). She also had six offensive rebounds, one block and went 12-of-13 from the free throw line.
Leiker topped her performance Saturday against Missouri Western, making seven straight 3-pointers in the first half and eight for the game, scoring a career high 30 points.
“She showed a lot of senior qualities coming back from a game in which our team didn’t perform well and she didn’t perform well, just the high bounce-back factor,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “She had a game where she really went out and did a lot of things other than make threes. And then came back the next game and had some good 3-point looks and stepped up and knocked them down.”
Leiker missed two weeks to start the season because of a stress fracture in her foot, and she has returned to lead the Lady Hornets in scoring at 16 points per game.
“I don’t feel any pressure to score a bunch of points,” Leiker said. “When you’re open and you’re hitting shots, you’re welcome to take them.”
Leiker moved into fifth place in career 3-pointers at Emporia State with 123 on Saturday, and she is 115 points away from breaking the 1,000-point mark at Emporia State.
“I have a little confidence right now,” she said, “so I’m feeling pretty good.”
Miller’s return
Schneider could not resist the temptation to play sophomore Brittany Miller anymore on Saturday. Miller joined the team at practice on Nov. 24, a day after the ESU volleyball team was eliminated from the postseason.
Schneider had planned to sit Miller until the Dec. 20 game against Harris-Stowe, but she was in uniform against Missouri Western on Saturday. Miller scored four points, had four rebounds, two assists and four turnovers in 10 minutes.
“She’s probably just progressed a little bit quicker,” Schneider said. “She still looks a little bit like a fish out of water right now, because she hasn’t had the ball in her hands a lot.
“But I do think there are some areas where she can help us, maybe not being able to execute on the offensive end as well as we’d like her to. ... She made some plays defensively. She’s going to make mistakes right now; we have to be a little bit patient there, but hopefully we can work her into the lineup.”
Miller provides depth in the frontcourt and a backup for forward Ida Edwards, who has had several games where she has gotten in foul trouble and the Lady Hornets have suffered defensively without Edwards. Miller had three steals and a block against Western and should be able to help ESU on defense.
“My favorite thing to do is play defense,” Miller said. “So if work hard defensively not quite knowing the offense as well as I should, that would be beneficial.”