Last-place Truman State had just cut Emporia State’s lead to three late in the second half, and TSU coach Mike Smith told his players on the bench, “This is what basketball is about right here. This is fun.”
Smith spoke too soon. Andrea Leiker made a 3-pointer just as soon as Smith finished his statement, and Emporia State (18-2, 12-1) proceeded to go on a 12-0 run on its way to a 67-58 win.
Leiker was on the bench right before the Lady Hornets started their run and as the Bulldogs kept cutting into the lead. The senior guard looked over to Lacy Corker and said, “I can’t believe it’s a four-point game.”
Leiker was tired of the Bulldogs hanging around, and she made sure to put an end to it. She scored the first 10 points of the 12-0 run, knocking down two straight 3-pointers, a layup off a steal and two free throws.
“We went in there to step it up a little bit and pull away with the lead,” Leiker said. “I guess that’s kind of how it happened.”
Emporia State’s defense also played a key role in the run, never letting Truman State tie or take the lead. The Lady Hornets forced nine straight misses during their run and also had two steals and three blocks.
“We got some stops I thought,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “Amazingly, once we went small, we did a better job rebounding. We had some bigs in there that weren’t boxing out and giving up some offensive rebounds, and once we got them out of the game and went small, we did a better job rebounding.”
The Lady Hornets also started to take care of the basketball. They did not have a turnover during the run; however, they committed 24 for the game, including 17 in the first half.
“We needed to cut our turnovers down,” Corker said. “I think we were so excited to be back in White Auditorium and we were playing so fast-paced that we just threw it all over the place. We pulled it together toward the end and got it going on offense, and when we play defense better, of course we’re going to do better on offense, and that’s what we started doing.”
The Lady Hornets’ 67 points was their lowest point total of the season, and it had nothing to do with their shooting. They made a respectable 49 percent of their shots. They also shot 40 percent from beyond the arc (6-of-15) and made 13-of-16 free throws. But their sloppiness with the ball kept them from lighting up the scoreboard and kept the Bulldogs in the game.
“I think all of us, our press clippings are getting to us a little bit on how great we are on offense,” Schneider said. “And that’s you guy’s fault and it’s my fault for letting them know that you think they’re so good on offense, because we came out today and threw it all over hell, and we’ve got to do a better job of doing the things that make us pretty good on offense, and we didn’t do those today, particularly in the first half.”
If the Lady Hornets have been reading their press clippings, they would know that Schneider has been disappointed in their defense lately. They gave up 89 points last week at Missouri Western and 86 at Northwest Missouri.
Sunday marked only the second time in the conference season ESU has held an opponent under 60 points.
“I did feel better about our defense as a whole,” Schneider said. “We made a couple mistakes in defending (Georgia) Mueller and, as a whole, I thought we did a pretty good job.”
If the Lady Hornets wanted to look for excuses for the fact that the Bulldogs trailed by only three late in the second half, they could point to the fact that they were playing their first conference game on a Sunday because of the Lyon County League Tournament. Or they could point to the fact that they let their guard down because they were playing back at home for the first time in 15 days and playing against the last-place team.
But Leiker and Corker weren’t into making excuses. They went into the game to make sure they put the Bulldogs away to keep Emporia State in first place by two games.
“It doesn’t matter who it is we play,” Corker said. “No matter what, we should play our hardest. Every team in our conference is good. It doesn’t matter if it’s Washburn, Truman, Hays or Central, no matter what, we should play our hardest on defense and offense.”
Sunday at White Auditorium
Truman 29 29 — 58
Emporia State 40 27 — 67
TRUMAN (4-16, 1-12 MIAA)
Mueller 6-12 4-5 16, Kiecker 5-20 4-6 15, Joya 6-12 0-0 12, Daniels 4-8 0-0 9, Medina 2-5 0-0 4, Mayes 0-2 2-2 2, Guinn 0-2 0-0 0, Seberger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-61 10-13 58.
EMPORIA STATE (18-2, 12-1 MIAA)
Leiker 5-8 2-2 14, Lenard 6-10 0-0 13, Boston 4-11 0-0 9, Edwards 3-7 2-2 8, Corker 3-4 2-2 8, Volkens 1-2 4-4 6, Miller 1-2 1-2 4, Augustyn 1-4 0-0 3, Renberg 0-1 2-4 2. Totals 24-49 13-16 67.
3-point goals — Truman 2-14 (Daniels 1-4, Kiecker 1-6, Mayes 0-1, Joya 0-1, Mueller 0-2), Emporia State 6-15 (Leiker 2-4, Lenard 1-2, Augustyn 1-4, Boston 1-4, Miller 1-1). Fouled out — Truman: None; Emporia State: None. Technical fouls — ESU bench. Rebounds — Truman 31 (Joya 9), Emporia State 33 (Edwards 9). Assists — Truman 14 (Guinn 4), Emporia State 14 (Lenard 6). Total fouls — Truman 15, Emporia State 13. Att. — 1,618.