Imposing, athletic and skilled, Washburn Rural post LaSharra Riley is a force unlike any in the Centennial League. Lexi Hileman’s got a tough job to do tonight — but then, it’s a job she’s used to doing.
Hileman will be the Spartan likely spending the most time guarding the 6-foot-2 Riley, last year’s reigning Centennial League player of the year, as Emporia High tries to knock off undefeated Rural — the top-ranked team in Class 6A — and avoid a third straight league loss.
The 5-foot-11 Hileman is one of Emporia’s senior leaders and its best defender in the post, and she’s seen plenty of Riley before, both in Centennial League play and over the summer. Riley’s taken her game to another level this year, but Hileman will bring plenty of confidence tonight as she fights to deny Riley the ball. She believes that she’s stepped up her defense this season, and her summer experience against Riley gives her some extra knowledge of her tendencies.
“She’s a good player, and I think I can match her ability, and I think I can play good defense on her,” Hileman said. “I’ve gotten a lot quicker this year and guarded on the ball better. So it’ll be a challenge, but I think I can rise up and take it.”
Spartans coach Bill Nienstedt said Hileman’s done a pretty good job when she’s guarded Riley in their previous meetings. The Rural star did have 20 points and 12 rebounds in Rural’s 52-44 win over Emporia last January at Rural, but managed just eight points when the Lady Blues beat the Spartans 68-61 in overtime the following month in Emporia.
“I don’t think there really is a set approach,” Hileman said, “other than play hard and just (work) at both ends. I don’t think I can say right now how I will defend her, or what will happen Friday, because I don’t know. All I know is I have to play (hard) to stop her, and get big stops and make plays at both ends.”
Last year, Riley averaged 11.8 points and 10 rebounds per game. This year, she’s averaging 19 points and 12.8 rebounds; both figures lead the league. Next year, she’ll play Big 12 ball at Oklahoma State.
“I think one of the things you have to do is you have to make (Riley) guard, also,” Nienstedt said. “Not that she’s a bad defender, but if you attack her and make her guard and get her in foul trouble, that makes things a little bit easier for you at the other end. It takes a little bit of her aggressiveness offensively away from her.”
But Nienstedt emphasizes that guarding a great post player is a team effort, not just an individual one.
“You gotta have good ball pressure so that it’s more difficult to look inside,” he said. “You’ve gotta have great weak-side help, because we try to front the post, which makes you a little vulnerable to the lob over the top if you’re not there with the kind of help from the weak side that you should have.”
When Hileman’s out of the game, Nienstedt said Hileman’s post partner, 5-foot-9 Hilary Heinrichs, would probably be next in line to defend Riley, and 5-foot-10 Sarah Kolmer may also get some time on her off the bench. But in past games against the Blues, Lindy Arndt has moved inside and used her 5-foot-11 height to guard Rileyl.
“Lindy’s a very versatile defender,” Nienstedt said. “She has, in the past, guarded all positions from point guard to post.”
Offensively, Arndt leads the Spartans with 13.3 points per game, Alli Armitage is at 8.7 points and Hileman is averaging 8.6. The Spartans sit at fourth place in the Centennial League with a 3-2 record. Rural and Seaman are both 4-0, and Manhattan is 3-1.
Emporia boys (5-3, 3-1) vs. Wash. Rural
(3-5, 1-3)
Another starting lineup shift — which would be the Spartan boys’ third different lineup in four post-Christmas games — is likely to come tonight against Rural after Tuesday’s 76-64 loss to Seaman that thoroughly displeased coach Rick Bloomquist.
After using the same lineup for all five of Emporia’s pre-Christmas games, Bloomquist used different lineups for the first two games after break, then used the same starting five for the second consecutive game against Seaman: Taylor Euler, Jacob Torres, Brandon Gentz, Jacob Golden and Greg Canales.
“Now, we’re gonna make some personnel adjustments, some attitude adjustments, because of (the Seaman) game,” Bloomquist said, “because I’ve given some kids on this team a chance to step up. And some of ’em just aren’t stepping up to my expectations. So it’s time to find some people that are going to give me 100 percent all the time.”
Longtime friends Euler and Bobby Chipman square off tonight as the second- and third-leading scorers in the Centennial League. The 5-foot-10 Euler is averaging an even 20 points per game for Emporia — second to Seaman’s Bryce Simons — and the 6-foot-8 Chipman is averaging 19.1 for Rural.