Even if the Emporia High girls had missed every shot from the field that they took during Thursday night’s first-round Class 5A Sub-State game against Topeka West, the Lady Spartans still would have walked away with a six-point victory.
That’s because EHS took a whopping 41 free throws and made 30 of them on the way to a 73-24 victory over the Lady Chargers.
All the stops to shoot free throws made for one sluggish-looking basketball game — as did Topeka West’s 36 turnovers — but it got the job done for the No. 2-seeded Lady Spartans, who are now within one victory of reaching the State tournament.
“It’s more difficult to get any rhythm and flow if the game is being stopped a lot, and we did get to the foul line a ton,” EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said. “But we like that. It’s probably not as pleasing to the eye, though, and it does disrupt rhythm a little.”
Not that the Lady Spartans needed much help in the way of free throws anyway.
EHS rebounded from a 7-for-19 (37 percent) shooting performance in the first half to finish 20-of-43 (47 percent) from the field, while defensively, the Lady Spartans forced 26 of Topeka West’s eventual 36 turnovers in the first half en route to a 25-point halftime lead and only allowed the Lady Chargers to take 27 shots all game.
“We knew this would be a hard game to focus on, but it was an important one because everyone starts over at Sub-State,” said EHS junior Rachelle VanGundy, who finished with a game-high 17 points. “We knew if we got pressure on them, they’d turn the ball over, and that would make our offense easier.”
Emporia (17-4) wasted little time putting things out of reach.
Nichole Naab scored six points to help EHS get out to a 14-0 lead with 37 seconds left in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Topeka West (3-18) committed turnovers on its first seven possessions and did not get a shot off in the first 3 1/2 minutes. The Lady Chargers finally scored with 10 seconds left in the opening frame when Sarah Henry put in a shot off the glass that made it 14-2 going into the second period.
Emporia continued to pull away from West in the second quarter despite the Lady Spartans going cold from the field against West’s 2-3 zone defense. EHS outscored West 18-5 in the second frame, but only made three shots in the 8-minute stretch. A 3-pointer by Naab from the right corner that put EHS up 21-4 with 4 1/2 minutes to go was Emporia’s first field goal since the 4-minute mark of the first quarter, a span of 7 1/2 minutes.
But EHS went to the foul line 12 times, hitting 10 of those freebies, and the Lady Spartans led at the break, 32-7.
“I was unhappy with the way we finished the first quarter, and then the second quarter, we never seemed to be able to get any offensive rhythm,” Nienstedt said. “It’s kind of crazy to say that, because we ended up with 32 points at halftime.”
If the offense was missing in the first half, the Lady Spartans found it early in the third quarter.
After Sadie Webb made 1 of 2 free throws to open the second half, the senior then drained two long-range jumpers to push Emporia’s lead to 37-9. That began a 14-2 run in which the Lady Spartans scored on eight straight possessions. The scoring stretch was capped by a jumper from Ashley Leihsing that made it 37-9 with 4 minutes to go in the third period.
“Coach (Nienstedt) told us that on the offensive end, he wanted us to pass the ball around real quick to get a shot instead of holding the ball like we did in the first half,” said Webb, who finished with 12 points. “We came out looking for quicker shots off of quick passes.”
Emporia’s lead grew from there. The EHS starters only played a couple minutes into the fourth quarter — two free throws from Alli Armitage made the score 61-21 with 5 minutes remaining — before giving way to the reserves. The scoring didn’t stop though, as 10 Lady Spartans scored.
EHS advances to play No. 3-seeded Kapaun Mt. Carmel (14-7) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Bishop Carroll High School in Wichita.
It’s the matchup the Lady Spartans have wanted ever since the brackets were released, as Kapaun defeated EHS in the Sub-State title game last year, 65-64, in Emporia.
“It feels really good to know we have one more game to go to make it to State,” Webb said. “Right now, I’m just thinking about last year and how it felt like they (Kapaun) took one from us. I just really want to play well Saturday.”
Emporia 73, Topeka West 24
Thursday at EHS
Topeka West 2 5 9 8 — 24
Emporia 14 18 19 22 — 73
Topeka West (3-18) — Aliyah Durant 3-9 2-5 8, Amber Stanley 1-3 0-0 2, Amelia Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Chioma Okoronkwo 0-0 0-1 0, Letisha Brooks 0-1 0-0 0, Sarah Henry 5-9 2-4 12, Sherokee Bloodworth 0-0 0-2 0, Allison McMahan 1-4 0-0 2, Lauren Elder 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Yelez 0-0 0-0 0, Anne Okoronkwo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-27 4-12 24.
Emporia (17-4) — Alli Armitage 0-2 4-4 4, Sadie Webb 4-6 4-6 12, Lindy Arndt 1-4 0-0 2, Nichole Naab 6-8 2-2 15, Lexi Hileman 2-4 2-4 6, Hilary Heinrichs 3-4 3-4 9, Brittany Meza 0-1 0-0 0, Rachelle VanGundy 3-7 9-11 17, Ashley Leihsing 1-3 2-2 4, Amber Miller 0-3 2-4 2, Courtney Waldner 0-1 2-2 2, Janae Scheve 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 20-43 30-41 73.
3-point goals — TW 0-3 (Durant 0-2, McMahan 0-1), Emporia 3-9 (Armitage 0-1, Naab 1-3, VanGundy 2-5). Rebounds — TW 25 (Henry 8), Emporia 25 (Arndt, Miller 4). Assists — TW 3 (Bloodworth 2), Emporia 12 (Armitage 6). Turnovers — TW 36, Emporia 12. Total fouls — TW 27, Emporia 16. Intentional foul — TW: Anderson. Technical foul — TW: McMahan.