The Emporia State Lady Hornets have been more than just good at shooting 3-pointers this year.
They’ve been the best.
Going into Wednesday’s games, ESU leads the nation in three-point percentage, making 43.4 percent of their long-range tries.
“I just think it proves that we’ve got pretty good shooters,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “I think you also have to consider we have post players that command some attention. Any time we get double-teamed, they do a pretty good job of finding the open man, and our shooters step into open threes.”
It’s not like the Lady Hornets aren’t putting up many treys, either.
The Lady Hornets currently are fourth in the country in 3-pointers made per game, averaging 8.95 made threes per contest.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have All-American Michelle Stueve hoisting shots from the outside.
The senior, who is ESU’s career leader in 3-pointers, is seventh in the nation in three-point percentage, making 46.2 percent of her tries.
What might be more surprising is that she has a pair of teammates right on her heels.
Cassondra Boston is ninth nationally, making 45.1 percent of her threes. And Andrea Leiker, though she doesn’t qualify for the national rankings because she does not average at least two made threes per game, is shooting 43.9 percent from the outside (36-of-82).
“I don’t even know who shoots the best three-point percentage on our team,” Schneider said. “When I think about it, I just feel like Leiker, Stueve and Boston all, if left open ... I feel pretty good about it going in.”
Interestingly, the three players are Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the MIAA in three-point shooting percentage.
As a team, ESU easily is the best shooting team in the MIAA at 43.4 percent. Southwest Baptist comes in at a distant second at 34.3 percent.
Three-point shooting was one of the main reasons ESU was able to come away with a 90-76 victory at Northwest Missouri State last Wednesday.
The Lady Hornets went 8-for-17 (47 percent) from the outside, while the Bearcats made just three of their 21 attempts (14 percent).
Schneider said the quick turnaround of the games with NWMSU would be a good test for his young team.
“If you lack maturity, it can really bite you,” Schneider said. “I think we’ve got to handle it with some experience and understand we had some success up there. Let’s analyze it, understand why we had success, and let’s also look at it from the perspective that we didn’t do some things very well.”
Schneider’s biggest focus in practice has been defensive rebounding. Though ESU out-rebounded NWMSU last week, 39-34, the Lady Hornets gave up 22 offensive rebounds.
ESU men look for 4th straight win
Caleb Tegtmeier knows that the Emporia State men got away with being soft in the second half of Saturday’s game against Fort Hays State on Saturday.
The Hornets probably won’t be as lucky Wednesday if they play the same way against always-physical Northwest Missouri State.
ESU held on to its big lead in a 67-60 victory against FHSU on Saturday despite not responding well to the Tigers’ attacking defense.
“They started bullying us around, and we kind of backed off and just kind of took it,” Tegtmeier said. “We didn’t come back with any aggression.”
The Bearcats should provide the same kind of defensive pressure, perhaps with even more incentive this game after the Hornets’ 65-62 victory at Bearcat Arena last week.
It was the first win for ESU in Maryville, Mo., in 10 years.
The Hornets enter as one of the hottest teams in the MIAA, winners of three straight and also five of their last six.
Northwest, meanwhile, comes to Emporia as a better road team than home team. The Bearcats are 5-1 away from Bearcat Arena this season.