BOLIVAR, MO. — Sophia Lenard spent halftime in the bathroom on Tuesday at Southwest Baptist. She spent most of the second half on the bench with three fouls and a nasty case of the flu.
But when Emporia State needed her most, Lenard helped close out the pesky Bearcats, 89-81.
“I’m not feeling real good,” Lenard said after the game.
It didn’t appear that way in the final six minutes when Lenard scored eight of her 18 points and also had a key rebound, steal and assist. She scored all of her points in the paint and at the free throw line, and thanks to her clutch play, the Lady Hornets feel much better than they did four days ago.
Giving up big leads has been the Lady Hornets’ one downfall this season. They blew a 12-point lead and were outscored 46-18 in the final 13 minutes against Southwest Baptist at home on Jan. 3. On that night, they played tight and timid down the stretch.
In Saturday’s loss at Nebraska-Omaha, the Lady Hornets blew another lead by settling for and missing four straight jumpers during a stretch in the second half that saw UNO take the lead.
“We took some questionable shots and didn’t execute as well,” Schneider said. “Tonight I thought we made some timely plays, where on Saturday we made some really timely mistakes that cost us the ballgame.”
When SBU started to make its comeback on Tuesday, Lenard and the Lady Hornets made sure not to make the same mistakes. Their guards, particularly Lenard, attacked off the dribble or pounded the ball in to Ida Edwards, Brittney Miller and Allie Renberg, who combined to score 38 points and dominated from the post.
“We had something to prove for ourselves,” Edwards said. “We knew we couldn’t let up on that team since they came back on us last time. I think we made some key plays in key times.”
Edwards had her 10th double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds. She scored 12 of her points in the paint and five at the free throw line. While she was ignored in the post for much of the second half on Saturday, the Lady Hornets made it a point to find Edwards on the block against Baptist.
“I don’t think they had a true post player, and we were bigger and stronger,” Edwards said.
Although the Lady Hornets had a size advantage, they struggled to defend the Bearcats on the perimeter. SBU does not play any true post players, and Schneider was forced to play Miller alongside Edwards, instead of always having centers Renberg or Alli Volkens on the floor.
On this night, that didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing.
When the Bearcats cut the lead to six with 4:03 left — the closest they’d been in the second half — Lenard was fouled on a baseline drive. She made the first free throw and then missed the second, but Miller chased down the rebound and scored to push the lead back to nine.
Miller didn’t join the basketball team until December because she is also on the ESU volleyball team, and she has started to gain Schneider’s trust as of late. She played a season-high 23 minutes against Baptist and had her second double-double of the year with 11 points and 12 rebounds. In her last two games, she’s scored 22 points and has 17 rebounds.
“She’s been terrific the last two games and really been practicing well, really kind of just getting into the basketball season,” Schneider said. “She’s really just getting into the swing of things and getting into basketball mode, and I think it’s pretty obvious why I was dumb enough to tell her she could play volleyball when she came here.”
With the win, Emporia State (19-3, 13-2 MIAA) maintained its lead in the conference standings over Pittsburg State and Washburn, which are both at 12-3 and both play tonight.
The Lady Hornets finish their three-game road trip on Saturday at Missouri Southern before back-to-back meetings with the Gorillas and Lady Blues in games that should decide the conference champion.
“We’re in the middle of a tough stretch with some really big challenges on the road,” Schneider said. “We knew this was going to be a tough challenge. The challenge at Southern is going to be more difficult but a different type of challenge because they’re a different type of team.”
Tuesday at Meyer Center
Emporia State 46 43 — 89
SW Baptist 34 47 — 81
EMPORIA STATE (20-3, 14-2 MIAA)
Edwards 7-10 5-6 19, Lenard 7-12 4-5 18, Boston 4-12 5-8 15, Miller 4-8 2-4 11, Renberg 4-9 0-2 8, Leiker 3-8 0-0 8, Corker 3-6 1-2 8, Volkens 1-1 0-0 2, Kisner 0-1 0-0 0, Augustyn 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 33-70 17-27 89.
SOUTHWEST BAPTIST (7-15, 4-11)
Creed 10-17 6-6 29, Graves 6-11 2-3 17, Sanford 4-10 3-9 11, Shewmaker 4-9 0-0 8, Garrett 3-6 0-0 6, Heady 2-8 0-0 5, Gilreath 0-3 3-4 3, Carson 0-0 2-2 2, Beamon 0-1 0-0 0, Eagles 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-67 16-24 81.
3-point goals — Emporia State 6-15 (Boston 2-3, Leiker 2-5, Corker 1-1, Miller 1-2, Kisner 0-1, Augustyn 0-3), Southwest Baptist 7-20 (Creed 3-6, Graves 3-7, Heady 1-2, Gilreath 0-1, Shewmaker 0-4). Fouled out — Emporia State: None; Southwest Baptist: Graves, Shewmaker. Rebounds — Emporia State 52 (Miller, Edwards 12), Southwest Baptist 34 (Sanford 8). Assists — Emporia State 11 (Boston, Lenard, Corker 3), Southwest Baptist 7 (Shewmaker, Creed 2). Total fouls — Emporia State 21, Southwest Baptist 26. Att. — 1,074.