JOPLIN, Mo. — No need to make it complicated.
The first words out of Emporia State coach Brandon Schneider’s mouth pretty much told the story after his team’s 90-71 loss to Missouri Southern on Wednesday.
“We don’t take too many just physical (butt)-whippings,” Schneider said, “but we took one tonight.”
Southern’s domination came mostly in the trenches.
The Lions set the tone early with their bigger, stronger and more aggressive post players.
Instead of trading blows, the Lady Hornets seemed content to simply take them.
“If this is a football game, and you talk a lot about the line of scrimmage,” Schneider said, “they just dominated us there.”
The statistics showed it.
ESU — easily coming in as the MIAA’s leader in rebounding margin — was manhandled on the boards, 46-24.
The 90 points allowed by the Lady Hornets also was the most since 1999. It was only the second time in Schneider’s 10-year tenure that his team has given up 90-plus points.
“You have to do it on the road, and we didn’t play defense or rebound,” ESU senior Michelle Stueve said. “We’re really kind of embarrassed about those two stats.”
Southern established its toughness early.
The Lions, pushing around the Lady Hornets on both the offensive and defensive ends, used a 19-2 run to take a 21-7 lead with 13:47 left in the first half.
“I’ve heard other post players are going to be tough and strong — and yeah, they were tough and strong — but these post players were stronger than I thought,” ESU forward Allie Renberg said.
MSSU extended its advantage to 27-10 before ESU answered with a quick run of its own.
The Lady Hornets had four different players score in an 8-0 spurt to trim the lead to 27-18.
Cassondra Boston’s 24-foot shot at the halftime buzzer cut the Southern lead to 43-35 at the break.
The first-half brawl turned into an all-out bar fight in the second half.
With the physical play picking up and few fouls called inside, Schneider was disappointed with his team’s response to the adversity.
Though ESU cut the deficit to 48-45 on a three-point play by Stueve with 15:07 left, Southern followed with an 11-2 run to push the advantage back to 12.
The Lady Hornets wouldn’t come any closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the lead only grew down the stretch as Southern continued its near-perfect night at the free-throw line.
The Lions, entering the game as MIAA’s worst free-throw shooting team (64.5 percent), made an astounding 34 of 38 free throws (90 percent). Southern made its final 20 attempts from the charity stripe.
“Did they even miss one? I don’t know,” Renberg said. “That definitely helped them.”
Southern was sparked inside by the bullying play of Tynesha Pierce and Fatai Hala’Api’Api, as the pair combined for 35 points and 14 rebounds.
The Lions also out-rebounded the Lady Hornets 17-9 in the first half.
“I think our kids knew they would have to jump for every rebound against an athletic team like Emporia,” Southern coach Maryann Mitts said. “Not only did you see us blocking out, but you saw people getting up and grabbing boards that typically we were waiting for on the floor.”
ESU also had trouble stopping MSSU’s penetrating point guard India Wood, who finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting.
Stueve led the Lady Hornets, scoring 21 points in a 6-for-20 effort.
ESU received very little production from its forwards, as Ida Edwards had nine points and four rebounds in 18 minutes, Alli Volkens had three points and two rebounds in 18 minutes and starter Renberg had no points and no rebounds in 11 minutes.
“Anything that was physical about the game, in terms of that battle, we lost,” Schneider said.
ESU also was out-shot on the free-throw line 38-15.
In the locker room, Schneider said he re-emphasized five phases of the game: keeping one’s composure, staying mentally tough, staying physically tough, playing good defense and rebounding.
The coach said those five parts of the game were most important if his team wanted to win on the road.
“We didn’t perform well in any of those areas,” Schneider said, “and consequently, we got our (butt) kicked.”
Missouri Southern men 90, Emporia State 71
Wednesday at Joplin, Mo.
No. 16 Emporia State 35 36 — 71
Missouri Southern 43 47 — 90
EMPORIA STATE (11-5, 4-3 MIAA)
Michelle Stueve 6-20 5-5 21, Cassondra Boston 5-10 4-5 15, Andrea Leiker 5-10 2-2 14, Ida Edwards 4-7 0-0 9, Bree Kisner 3-7 0-0 6, Alli Volkens 1-3 1-3 3, Jamie Augustyn 1-2 0-0 3, Allie Renberg 0-0 0-0 0, Becky Zabel 0-0 0-0 0, Lacy Corker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 12-15 71.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN (13-3, 4-3 MIAA)
India Wood 8-11 6-6 24, Tynesha Pierce 7-15 8-9 22, Fatai Hala’Api’Api 4-8 5-6 13, Ela Zawadka 4-9 2-2 12, Danielle DeVader 0-2 10-10 10, Nichole Helfrich 2-4 3-3 7, Lindsey Davis 1-2 0-2 2, Ivaney Marquez 0-2 0-0 0, Trice Bonner 0-3 0-0 0, Randi Henderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 34-38 90.
3-point goals — Emporia State 9-25 (Stueve 4-9, Leiker 2-5, Boston 1-5, Edwards 1-1, Augustyn 1-2, Corker 0-1, Kisner 0-2), Missouri Southern 4-10 (Wood 2-2, Zawadka 2-5, Marquez 0-1, Bonner 0-2). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Missouri Southern: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 24 (Stueve 8), Missouri Southern 46 (Pierce 8). Assists — Emporia State 14 (Leiker 3, Stueve 3), Missouri Southern 7 (Wood 3). Total fouls — Emporia State 26, Missouri Southern 21. Att — 1,176.