JOPLIN mo. — Ida Edwards made it look so easy, and her play was so perfect on Saturday that she even mesmerized the statisticians at Missouri Southern.
Edwards was credited with 22 points on 10-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds, six assists, four blocks and two steals.
“I thought I missed a shot,” she said.
She did, a fadeaway at the buzzer at the end of the first half that went undocumented. But that will just have to be a footnote in the most dominating performance by a player and team this season for Emporia State.
The Lady Hornets visited the hottest team in the MIAA — MSSU had won eight of nine — and left with a 79-56 victory that left no doubt who the best team in the MIAA is this season, and maybe who the best player is.
Edwards controlled both ends from the start. Emporia State’s first basket came on a kickout from Edwards to Andrea Leiker for a 3-pointer. Edwards rebounded Missouri Southern’s first miss and then scored on a spin move in the lane. She scored on a turnaround off the glass to put ESU up 7-2; she had a steal that set up a Sophia Lenard layup to make it 11-2; and she scored on another turnaround in the lane to make it 13-2.
“Brandon told me before the game, he felt like I was going to do work tonight,” Edwards said, “and I didn’t want to let him down, so I did work.”
By the time it got to 16-2, Edwards could have punched her timecard, turned it in and headed home. Of course, that’s been one of the Lady Hornets’ few faults this season.
After going on long, dominating runs, they have a habit of tuning out for awhile and letting opponents creep back into the game — and they’ve blown big leads in all three of their losses.
But Edwards and her teammates made sure not to let that happen again. Missouri Southern would get to within single digits only once after the initial onslaught — 26-17 — and the closest the Lions would get in the second half was within 14.
“We had some lulls, but something we’ve been talking about is this time of year, you can still improve, and the only way we can improve is to have some stretches where maybe we’re not getting stops or we’re not executing, but to cut those things down, especially because we can,” ESU coach Brandon Schneider said. “And I thought that was a difference in our play tonight. None of our lulls on either end of the floor were very long.”
As she had done in the first half, Edwards set the tone to start the second half. She scored on a pick and roll with Lenard on the first possession, and after the Lions scored four straight points, she made sure they didn’t gain any sort of momentum, blocking a shot and then getting the assist on a Leiker 3-pointer.
Edwards had another block on the following possession, coming from the weak side to swat away a Myosha Barnes layup, a play she duplicated two possessions later.
“I was just telling Brandon I felt like I hadn’t blocked a shot in games,” Edwards said. “I think we play pressure defense where sometimes we might get beat off the dribble and I was there for help, and I love just rotating and getting backside blocks when they’re not expecting it.”
When Michelle Hedgecock cut the lead to 51-37 on a jumper, Edwards answered again with a turnaround bank shot from 12 feet. Edwards took her time on the play, backing in the defender and then calmly turning around to shoot when she found her spot. She didn’t force one shot all night, as evidenced by her six assists.
“Our bigs rushed a little bit in traffic,” Schneider said. “We squeezed a couple off that we probably should have made. Ida stayed really strong with the ball and didn’t rush anything in traffic.”
Edwards’ calm and controlled play was mirrored on the perimeter by Lenard, a player who has a tendency to play in a hurry. Lenard rarely rushed against Southern and outplayed Southern’s leading scorer, India Wood. Lenard held Wood to 10 points, and she scored 11 points, had five rebounds and had a career-high nine assists.
“Those two have 15 assists between them, and I think it just speaks to the completeness of how they both played,” Schneider said. “They were both really good defensively and made a lot of plays on that end. They both boarded it well. They both finished plays, and they both made plays for others.”
ESU senior Allie Renberg said she could tell in warmups that it was going to be Edwards’ night by the way she warmed up.
“She just had this mentality that she was going to kick some butt,” Renberg said, “and she definitely did.”
Schneider said he could sense it as well.
“She had good practices,” he said. “She had a really good shootaround today. She was really into the film sessions, and that’s how you get yourself ready to play. When Ida’s in the right frame of mind, I think she’s proven several times that she can really be one of the premier players, not only in our league, but hopefully in the country.”
Saturday at the Leggett & Platt Center
Emporia State 44 35 — 79
Mo. Southern 27 29 — 56
EMPORIA STATE (21-3, 15-2 MIAA)
Edwards 10-10 2-2 22, Renberg 5-9 3-4 13, Leiker 3-9 4-4 13, Lenard 4-8 3-3 11, Boston 3-6 0-0 8, Corker 2-7 1-1 6, Miller 2-5 0-0 4, Volkens 1-3 0-0 2, Augustyn 0-1 0-0 0, Tucker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-58 13-14 79.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN (17-6, 11-5)
Helfrich 4-8 10-10 18, Wood 4-8 1-1 10, Barnes 2-9 5-7 9, Davis 3-11 0-1 6, Henderson 2-4 0-0 4, Hedgecock 2-6 0-0 4, DeVader 1-5 0-0 3, Vavao-Huggins 0-0 2-2 2, Beale 0-2 0-0 0, Apon 0-1 0-1 0, Evenson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-54 18-22 56.
3-point goals — Emporia State 6-18 (Leiker 3-6, Boston 2-4, Corker 1-5, Miller 0-1, Augustyn 0-1, Lenard 0-1), Missouri Southern 2-13 (Wood 1-3, DeVader 1-5, Davis 0-2, Beale 0-2, Barnes 0-1). Fouled out — Emporia State: Volkens; Missouri Southern: None. Rebounds — Emporia State 37 (Renberg 7, Volkens 7), Missouri Southern 30 (Helfrich 6). Assists — Emporia State 18 (Lenard 9), Missouri Southern 7 (Wood, Evenson, Helfrich, Barnes, DeVader, Davis, Apon 1). Total fouls — Emporia State 22, Missouri Southern 16. Att. — 962