OMAHA — As the Emporia State women made the long bus ride from Omaha back to Emporia on Saturday after their 78-72 loss, they had to be playing the what-if game.
What if they had made their free throws? They made only 10-of-21.
“We should knock them down,” Ida Edwards said. “They’re free throws. We’re capable of knocking them down; we just didn’t.”
What if they had put away UNO when they had the chance?
Three times the Lady Hornets took an eight-point lead, and on the first two occasions, they couldn’t get a stop to have a chance to push the lead to double-digits.
On the third time around, they had two possessions with a chance to stretch the lead to double-digits, but Jamie Augustyn missed a 3-pointer and Cassondra Boston turned it over the next possession, and UNO followed with a basket.
“We talk a lot about making timely plays,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “We made some really timely mistakes at poor times.”
And then, finally, what if they had taken better shots when UNO finally made its run to take the lead? During a 7-0 run that gave the Mavericks a 64-61 lead, the Lady Hornets missed three 3-pointers and a jumper.
“We just went empty on offense,” Schneider said. “I don’t mind taking perimeter shots, but I kind of felt like they were from the wrong people.”
Boston added: “We have good post players, and they really were pinching in and not letting us get in the lane through our drives or through our post feeds. I think we relied on jump shots a little too much near the end and maybe should have went inside or driven a little bit more.”
Once UNO took the lead, Boston made an effort to get the ball inside. She made a runner off the glass and got fouled, tying the game at 64. When UNO took back the lead on two Alyssa Green free throws, Boston scored again on a pullup shot in the lane.
The Lady Hornets forced a turnover and had a chance to take back the lead, but again they settled for a jumper with Allie Renberg missing a 3-pointer.
Cayla Hargrove gave UNO back the lead, 68-66, with a baseline jumper, and the Lady Hornets went back inside. Edwards scored on a sweeping move across the lane, and she was fouled and made the free throw to give ESU a 69-68 lead.
Hargrove took back the lead on a 3-point play, and after Edwards missed a turnaround jumper, Hargrove made two free throws to give UNO a 73-69 lead with 41.3 seconds left.
Emporia State went back to Boston, and Autralius Sanders knocked her dribble away and jumped on the ball, calling timeout with 32.1 seconds left.
“When the shot clock is winding down or in key moments, Cassondra is usually the one with the ball,” Edwards said. “She’s been doing it all year for us, hitting the big shots. I feel good when the ball is in her hands at the last minute.”
Boston led Emporia State with 22 points and four assists, and she also had a game-high seven turnovers. Edwards scored 16, and her backup Brittney Miller added 11, including 10 straight during a 14-2 run in the first half that gave Emporia State its first lead.
“We’ve got to get production from other people,” Schneider said. “Obviously tonight, we have some guards that we rely on to give us some production and we didn’t get it.
“I thought our fours played pretty good for the most part. Ida still probably struggled to finish some baskets that typically we’d like her to at least get to the free throw line on, but didn’t get much out of our centers.”
The Lady Hornets also didn’t get much out of their defense, which leads the MIAA in field goal percentage at 36.1 percent. UNO shot 51.7 percent for the game and 55.2 percent in the second half, the first team all season to shoot better than 50 percent against the Lady Hornets.
“When we have a second half like we did, I think it’s obvious you’re putting yourself in a position to lose,” Schneider said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well. They shot it exceptionally well. Some of that was their execution. Some of that was us making mistakes.
“I was a little disappointed in how we guarded the flex. That’s an offense most of us have been working against since we were in seventh grade, and it looked as if we had never played against it before.”
Emporia State (19-3, 13-2) still leads Washburn and Pittsburg State by a game, but the Lady Hornet have to feel as if both their conference losses have come to teams they should have beaten. Both Southwest Baptist and UNO (10-10, 6-8) have losing records in the conference; however, UNO is 5-2 at home in the MIAA.
“Our team understands how talented they are,” Schneider said. “They’ve got no business having the record they do. They are talent-wise a top-three team in the league, without question. In the MIAA tournament, they could be a really dangerous team.”
Saturday at Sapp Fieldhouse
Emporia State 37 35 — 72
Neb.-Omaha 35 43 — 78
EMPORIA STATE (19-3, 13-2 MIAA)
Boston 8-16 3-6 22, Edwards 6-14 4-7 16, Miller 4-5 2-4 11, Leiker 4-9 0-2 9, Renberg 3-6 1-2 7, Lenard 2-5 0-0 4, Augustyn 1-3 0-0 3, Volkens 0-1 0-0 0, Corker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 10-21 72.
NEBRASKA-OMAHA (10-10, 6-8)
Green 9-13 3-6 23, Hargrove 6-9 6-7 18, Brodsack 4-10 0-1 10, Nelson 4-10 0-0 8, Wolf 1-3 4-6 6, Wright 2-3 0-0 4, Brown 2-2 0-0 4, Majewski 1-1 0-0 3, Sanders 1-3 0-0 2, Kane 0-1 0-0 0, Pohl 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-58 13-20 78.
3-point goals — Emporia State 6-18 (Boston 3-8, Augustyn 1-2, Leiker 1-5, Miller 1-1, Corker 0-1, Renberg 0-1), Nebraska-Omaha 5-17 (Green 2-4, Brodsack 2-4, Majewski 1-1, Sanders 0-1, Brown 0-2, Nelson 0-2, Hargrove 0-3). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Nebraska-Omaha: Nelson. Rebounds — Emporia State 37 (Edwards 7), Nebraska-Omaha 33 (Brodsack 9). Assists — Emporia State 9 (Boston 4), Nebraska-Omaha 15 (Green 5). Total fouls — Emporia State 20, Nebraska-Omaha 20. Att. — 393.