It was a hiccup, not a trend. An aberration, not a pattern.
Emporia State’s dreadful rebounding and defensive performance against Missouri Southern on Wednesday was put to rest for good on Sunday, as the Lady Hornets rounded back to form in an 84-65 victory against Missouri Western at White Auditorium.
“It wasn’t like we needed to spend two hours doing a bunch of drills,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said, “because it’s something we’ve been pretty good at most of the year.”
Stressing the two areas in film study and meetings ended up being enough to get both problems fixed.
In their previous game, the Lady Hornets allowed a season-high 90 points and were out-rebounded 46-24.
ESU was much better Sunday, forcing 23 Western turnovers and also dominating the boards, out-rebounding the Griffons 43-30.
“I think everyone had a little more intensity to go to the glass,” ESU senior Michelle Stueve said. “We knew obviously we made a big mistake Wednesday, and we tried to fix it.”
The Lady Hornets were hampered by turnovers in the early going, committing nine in the first 6:47 as Western (9-7, 4-4 MIAA) took a 12-7 lead.
The Griffons’ advantage would get as large as eight at 25-17.
“I thought our offense hurt our defense in the first half,” Schneider said. “They had some run-outs after turnovers and bad shots.”
ESU point guard Cassondra Boston brought the Lady Hornets out of their sluggish start with 2:15 left in the first half.
The sophomore made a 3-pointer from the side, then took advantage of her teammates’ screens to hit two more treys from the top of the key for a personal 9-0 run.
“I just got those threes of off execution,” Boston said. “We just ran our plays right, and the threes were there.”
The shooting streak — which came with Stueve on the bench because of foul trouble — helped turn a 29-28 deficit into a 39-29 ESU lead at the half.
The Lady Hornets used fast-break points to extend their lead in the second half.
Ida Edwards scored six points during an 18-3 run, giving ESU a 63-45 cushion.
During a 9-minute span in the second half, the Lady Hornets defense also allowed just two field goals.
“Most importantly,” Schneider said, “we played some defense.”
ESU was led in scoring by its big three: Stueve, Boston and Edwards.
Stueve finished with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting, also making 5 of 11 three-point attempts.
Boston had 20 points, going 5-for-10 from three-point range, while Edwards also had 20 points to go with eight rebounds.
The Lady Hornets shot a season-high 35 3-pointers in the game, making 13 of them (37 percent). ESU’s previous high was 29 threes attempted against Truman on Jan. 16.
ESU also took a better job of taking care of the ball in the second half, finishing with seven second-half giveaways to finish with 20 overall.
Western, which was down to just eight players because of injuries and ineligible athletes, was led by Jill Johnson’s 20 points.
The Lady Hornets (12-5, 5-3 MIAA) will have an important road contest coming up Wednesday, taking on first-place Northwest Missouri State.
ESU is one game back of both NWMSU and Washburn in the MIAA standings.
ESU women 84, Missouri Western 65
Saturday at White Auditorium
Mo. Western 29 36 — 65
No. 16 ESU 39 45 — 84
MISSOURI WESTERN (9-7, 4-4 MIAA)
Jill Johnson 6-12 6-7 20, Tierra Ford 5-13 4-4 15, Yanique Javois 5-12 3-4 13, Lauren Nolke 3-6 1-2 9, Chemia Woods 4-9 0-1 8, Colleen Schnieder 0-0 0-0 0, Rachel Luteyn 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Gawatz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-53 14-18 65.
EMPORIA STATE (12-5, 5-3 MIAA)
Michelle Stueve 7-14 2-2 21, Ida Edwards 9-18 2-4 20, Cassondra Boston 6-15 3-3 20, Andrea Leiker 3-10 2-2 10, Allie Renberg 1-2 3-4 5, Jamie Augustyn 1-2 0-0 3, Bree Kisner 1-5 1-2 3, Alli Volkens 0-0 2-4 2, Kayla Krueger 0-0 0-0 0, Tina Commons 0-0 0-0 0, Bekcy Zabel 0-0 0-0 0, Lacy Corker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-66 15-21 84.
3-point goals — Missouri Western 5-13 (Nolke 2-3, Johnson 2-4, Ford 1-3, Woods 0-1, Javois 0-2), Emporia State 13-35 (Boston 5-10, Stueve 5-11, Leiker 2-7, Augustyn 1-2, Kisner 0-2, Edwards 0-3). Fouled out — Missouri Western: Woods, Nolke, Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Missouri Western 30 (Ford 7), Emporia State 43 (Renberg 9). Assists — Missouri Western 12 (Nolke, Woods 4), Emporia State 20 (Leiker, Boston 5). Total fouls — Missouri Western 20, Emporia State 17. Att — 2,003.