Ida Edwards has only played one game at Missouri Southern, but that was enough for the Leggett and Platt Center to earn her respect.
“Their gym, besides ours, is the toughest place to play in our league,” she said. “We know they’re going to play hard every possession; it’s going to be very physical.”
Last season’s result, a 90-71 loss, might have influenced Edwards’ opinion, and it’s sure to be on the minds of the Lady Hornets on Saturday, as they begin the toughest part of their schedule this season.
They travel to Missouri Southern (17-5, 11-4 MIAA) and Washburn (20-3, 13-3) with a home game against Pittsburg State (17-6, 12-4) sandwiched in between. They went 3-0 during the same stretch earlier this year, but two of the three were at home.
“We have to continue to take it one game at a time,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said, “but understand that we’re getting to that crunch time in league play and we can’t afford to not be at our best if we want to be contending for a league championship.”
With only four games left for Emporia State (20-3, 14-2), the MIAA champion will most likely be crowned over the next three, and the Lions have emerged as a serious contender.
When Emporia State beat Missouri Southern 83-70 on Jan. 7, Southern was 3-3 in the MIAA and hovering near the middle of the pack in the conference. Since then the Lions have gone 8-1, their only loss a slip up at Missouri Western, where they shot only 22 percent and scored a season-low 39 points.
They bounced back from the Western loss with a 58-55 win at Pittsburg State on Saturday, joining Emporia State as the only teams to win in Pittsburg this season.
The Lions have won with defense, holding seven of their last nine opponents under 60 points.
“They’ve been terrific defensively, especially the second half of league play,” Schneider said. “I think they consistently play harder than any other team in our league, and that’s a credit to them and credit to their coaching staff.”
Edwards can second that.
“I think their coach gets them pumped up pretty good where they’re just playing all-out... which I don’t think is a bad thing,” she said. “I just think their coach gets them pumped up and gets the crowd in it. We’re going to be prepared for all that.”
The Lions have not lost at home since Dec. 6, and if the Lady Hornets are not prepared, Schneider knows they could be another victim — just like last season.
“We’ve had some success there in the past,” he said, “but we’ve also had games where we didn’t go in there in the right frame of mind and they just bullied us and pushed us around and whipped our butt.”
ESU men (15-8, 9-7 MIAA) at Missouri Southern
(16-9, 6-9)
For the first time in a while, Emporia State is not playing a team on Saturday that’s riding a hot streak.
Seven of Emporia State’s last eight opponents have played the Hornets coming off a win — with the one exception being last-place Truman State — and six of their last eight opponent’s have had a .500 or better record in the league.
When the Hornets travel to Missouri Southern on Saturday, they’ll be playing a team that’s been on a downward spiral since their last meeting on Jan. 7.
Following a loss to the Hornets, the then 12th-ranked Lions won at Washburn, and then lost one of their top bench players, Tony Webb, who is academically ineligible. Since losing Webb after their win at Washburn, the Lions have lost seven of eight, their one win coming against Truman.
“They’ve struggled lately, but they’ve had a tough schedule but they still have a good overall record,” ESU coach David Moe said. “At this point they’re playing to get in the conference tournament. At this point, it doesn’t matter with four games to go, every game is a big game for everybody.
“For us, we need to make sure we play the way we need to play for 40 minutes and if we do that, we’ll take our chances on winning and losing, and that’s the way we need to approach every game from here on out.”
The Lions suffered one of their worst losses of the season on Wednesday, losing at Pittsburg State, 76-58. They played without second-leading scorer Vincent Ateba, who missed the game with an ankle injury. Ateba scored 25 points against the Hornets earlier this year.
Ateba’s status for Saturday’s game is unknown, but whether he plays or not, the Hornets will finally be facing a team that’s struggling and below .500 in the MIAA.
“On the other side of that, I think we’re playing a team who might have hit a low point at Pitt State and probably played their worst game of the year last time out,” Moe said. “And they should come back and certainly expect them to have their best effort of the year. We’ll get their best shot again with the timing of how their last game went.”