Brandon Schneider started Tuesday’s game against Evangel sitting quietly on the bench.
After watching his team struggle to guard Evangel in the first eight minutes as the Lady Hornets trailed for the first time during the regular season, Schneider could no longer be silent and he called a timeout.
“Rotate. Talk. Help your teammates,” Ida Edwards said was the message of the timeout — at least the PG version.
“He definitely got our attention,” Andrea Leiker said.
Once Evangel earned Emporia State’s attention, the Lady Hornets looked like themselves in the final 32 minutes, rolling to another blowout win, 93-69.
This was not another blowout win over a far-lesser foe. Evangel does play in the NAIA, but the Lady Crusaders won at Northwest Missouri on Friday, and the Bearcats are the reigning MIAA tournament champions and were picked to finish third in the league this season.
“We knew that they were going to be better than the past teams that we played, but I think that you have to have a little confidence knowing that maybe you’re a little higher level than them,” Leiker said. “You’ve got to come in and just do what you’ve got to do. They were good. They started out really well. We came back and did what we needed to do.”
Edwards helped the Lady Hornets turn it around by following her coach’s orders. Edwards started an 8-0 ESU run with a putback that cut Evangel’s lead to one point midway through the first half. But it was her defense that keyed the run and pleased her coach.
On four straight possessions, Edwards had two blocks, drew a charge and pulled down a defensive rebound. Edwards’ help defense disabled the Lady Crusaders from driving easily to the basket, which is what they were able to do early in the game.
After Edwards’ four-possession defensive display, Alli Volkens made two free throws to give the Lady Hornets their first lead, 19-18, since leading 2-0. Emporia State never trailed again.
“She’s got the ability to make spectacular plays on both ends of the floor,” Schneider said of Edwards. “She had a big block where she really had to go up and get it. That not only energizes our team, but I think it gets the crowd into it and that’s where she’s made so much progress, the desire to be good on the defensive end and understand that she can really impact the game in a positive way on both ends.”
Edwards matched her defensive performance with her offense. She finished with a team-high 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting. She also led the team with 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Emporia State’s offense was as efficient as ever, despite struggling shooting from the outside. The Lady Hornets attempted 21 more shots than the Crusaders by limiting their turnovers to eight, compared to 20 for the Crusaders.
“I think really you have to attribute that to our point guard play,” Schneider said. “I thought both of them played really well and made good decisions and easy plays.”
Point guards Cassondra Boston and Lacy Corker combined for 11 assists and zero turnovers. It was Boston’s scoring — not her passing — that gave Emporia State a big lift in the first half.
With the 3-pointers not falling, Boston started driving into the lane and scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half. She was perfect from inside the 3-point line and helped the Lady Hornets take a commanding 40-25 lead into half.
Boston and Corker’s penetration helped ESU to score 56 points in the paint.
The Lady Hornets relied on their 3-point shooting early and missed their first seven attempts. Combine that with their struggles on defense, and that’s how the Lady Crusaders controlled the first eight minutes. The 3-point shooting did get much better, as Emporia State finished 5-for-22.
“The 3-point shooting, it will come,” Schneider said. “We’re really confident in our ability to make those shots. ... We’ve got good shooters and I think we’ll be pretty consistent eventually behind the arc.”
Emporia State’s best shooter is Leiker, who returned to the lineup after missing two weeks with a stress fracture in her foot. Leiker passed the test of whether she was ready to return, scoring 12 points and pulling down six rebounds from the guard spot. And the Lady Hornets passed the test of whether they’re ready to handle quality competition.
“We were down at the beginning and it was good to see that we overcame that and came back,” Boston said. “The competition is just going to keep getting better. That was a good test for us.”
Tuesday at White Auditorium
Evangel 25 44 — 69
Emporia State 40 53 — 93
EVANGEL (2-3)
Pollard 1-5 2-2 4, Mingus 2-6 0-0 6, Morris 4-11 2-2 10, Russell 2-3 2-2 10, Luko 4-10 2-4 7, VanKempen 0-2 0-0 0, Blankenship 4-8 15-15 23, Hargus 3-6 0-0 8. Totals 20-51 23-25 69.
EMPORIA STATE (4-0)
Edwards 7-9 1-3 15, Volkens 3-5 4-4 10, Boston 5-12 3-4 14, Leiker 5-11 0-0 12, Lenard 5-10 4-5 14, Tucker 1-2 2-2 4, Augustyn 1-4 0-0 3, Corker 3-8 2-5 8, Kisner 1-4 2-2 5, Krueger 0-1 0-0 0, Renberg 3-6 2-4 8. Totals 34-72 20-29 93.
3-point goals — Evangel 6-19 (Hargus 2-3, Mingus 2-4, Russell 1-2, Luko 1-5, Blankenship 0-1, Morris 0-4), Emporia State 5-22 (Leiker 2-7, Kisner 1-2, Augustyn 1-3, Boston 1-6, Lenard 0-1, Tucker 0-1, Corker 0-2). Fouled out — Evangel: Pollard, Hargus; Emporia State: None. Rebounds — Evangel 31 (Luko 7), Emporia State 43 (Edwards 11). Assists — Evangel 8 (Morris 3), Emporia State 16 (Corker 7). Total fouls — Evangel 24, Emporia State 16. Att. — 1,874.
hartford (anonymous) says...
I want to know why Kayla Krueger isn't getting the playing time she deserves??!!
November 26, 2008 at 11:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
averagejoe (anonymous) says...
Kayla Krueger is not Michelle Stueve. She's a walk-on on a top-10 team. In short, she is getting the playing time she deserves. She's a valuable practice player and should be happy to be a part of such a good program.
November 26, 2008 at 11:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )