TOPEKA — It’s a mental thing now.
The No. 18 Emporia State women — riding an eight-game winning streak — should have had all the confidence in the world heading into Saturday’s matchup against No. 17 Washburn.
Instead, the Lady Hornets never gave themselves a chance, playing timid and unsure in a 78-52 thumping at Lee Arena.
“We played scared, basically, like we always do here,” ESU senior Michelle Stueve said. “You can’t play scared and beat them at home. They’re just going to take it to you, because they sense it and they know when you’re on your off game.”
The win gives the Lady Blues — who have won nine of their last 11 games against the Lady Hornets — a full-game lead in the conference standings with just two games left.
To get there, WU took it to ESU early and never let up.
The Lady Blues jumped out to a 10-4 lead, with all five of those field goals coming on layups in the paint.
WU used a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 28-12, as ESU went 5 minutes, 49 seconds without a field goal during one stretch in the first half.
“I saw a team that really struggled to execute,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “I saw a team that played like things have been a little bit easier for them. Washburn just doesn’t give you anything easy.”
Meanwhile, everything seemed to come easy for WU offensively.
The Lady Blues — who took a 40-21 lead into half — had 28 first-half points in the paint. Many of those baskets came from WU getting the ball to a post player inside, who would turn and pass it to a cutting guard for a wide-open layup.
“That’s something Brandon told us about, that’s something we worked on, that’s something we should have been ready for mentally,” Stueve said. “I’ll be the first to say I screwed up just like anyone else did, but we had a lot of mind lapses on the back cuts.”
On the other end, ESU had problems getting any shots to go down against WU’s physical defense.
The Lady Hornets went just 5-for-23 in the first half (22 percent) and just 1-of-8 from beyond the arc (13 percent).
“I definitely didn’t think in the first half there were many people interested in shooting it, including (Michelle) in some situations,” Schneider said. “I think we have pretty good perimeter shooters, and I thought they showed a lot of hesitation in the first half.”
The Lady Hornets weren’t any better in the second half.
Over the next 16 minutes, ESU scored just five field goals to fall behind 69-41.
A late flurry by Alli Volkens — she scored seven straight points in a 68-second stretch — was about the only consistent offense the Lady Hornets found all night.
Stueve led ESU with 11 points on 2-for-12 shooting. It was the first time in 32 games that she failed to make a 3-pointer.
Cassondra Boston finished with just five points, making only 1 of 12 shots from the floor.
Meanwhile, WU was led by a nearly flawless performance from post player Amanda Holmes.
She finished with a game-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers.
“She’s mature,” Leiker said. “She knows what to do to score.”
ESU (19-6, 12-4 MIAA) finished 14-of-55 overall (26 percent), shooting its worst field-goal percentage in more than two years. The Lady Hornets, who lead the nation in three-point field-goal percentage, made just 2 of 18 from long range (11 percent).
“We’ve kind of been on a high. We’d been winning. I thought we’d been playing well,” Stueve said. “To come here and do that, it’s just a real disappointment.”
Washburn women 78, Emporia State 52
Saturday at Topeka
No. 18 ESU 21 31 — 52
No. 17 Washburn 40 38 — 78
EMPORIA STATE (19-6, 12-4 MIAA)
Michelle Stueve 2-12 7-8 11, Alli Volkens 3-3 4-6 10, Andrea Leiker 2-6 4-5 9, Ida Edwards 3-11 0-0 6, Cassondra Boston 1-12 2-4 5, Allie Renberg 2-4 0-0 4, Lacy Corker 0-2 3-4 3, Jamie Augustyn 1-2 0-0 2, Bree Kisner 0-2 2-5 2, Kayla Krueger 0-0 0-0 0, Tina Commons 0-1 0-0 0, Becky Zabel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-55 22-32 52.
WASHBURN (21-4, 13-3 MIAA)
Amanda Holmes 7-12 4-4 19, Corkey Stiger 6-17 4-4 18, Janice Bright 6-8 0-0 13, Jessica Mainz 2-7 5-7 10, Hope Gregory 3-4 1-4 7, Brette Ulsaker 2-2 0-0 4, Renata Germano 1-3 2-3 4, Alyssa Mullen 1-1 0-0 3, Kalee Silovsky 0-1 0-0 0, Karla Tailele 0-1 0-0 0, Jacki Tipping 0-0 0-0 0, Hadleigh Meek 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-56 16-22 78.
3-point goals — Emporia State 2-18 (Leiker 1-2, Boston 1-7, Augustyn 0-1, Kisner 0-2, Commons 0-1, Stueve 0-5), Washburn 6-17 (Stiger 2-8, Bright 1-2, Mullen 1-1, Holmes 1-1, Mainz 1-4, Germano 0-1). Fouled out — Emporia State: Volkens; Washburn: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 34 (Stueve 9), Washburn 41 (Holmes 10). Assists — Emporia State 5 (Corker 2), Washburn 14 (Holmes 5). Total fouls — Emporia State 21, Washburn 21. Att — 4,091.