When a shooter gets hot, the crowd wants to see another shot from that shooter, and another one and another.
Rachelle VanGundy gave the people what they wanted, and helped give Emporia High something it desperately needed — a victory.
VanGundy, who’d had trouble finding the mark on her outside shot this year, came off the bench to knock down seven 3-pointers and score a career-high 23 points, leading Emporia High to a 67-43 rout of Leavenworth on Saturday afternoon at EHS.
“Finally,” VanGundy said. “I’ve been struggling with my confidence lately, so that was a big relief (today).”
VanGundy got some open looks against Leavenworth’s zone defense and made the Pioneers pay, bombing in five 3-pointers in as many tries in the first half. She hit her first three off a post kickout from Lexi Hileman to put the Spartans up 14-8, then added another one after Amber Miller rebounded a missed free throw and kicked out to her. VanGundy knocked down another triple from the left corner to make it 21-8.
Some members of the small Saturday-afternoon crowd were clamoring for VanGundy to get the ball by the time she added two more triples in the second quarter. She hit a three from the right wing and another one from the opposite side, the latter making it 31-14 in favor of EHS.
“I feel like I had a lot of time to get my feet set and get the shot off,” VanGundy said, “and I wasn’t rushed like sometimes I am.”
Adding two more treys in four attempts in the second quarter, plus a driving layup, VanGundy finished 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. Her 23 points were the biggest individual output any Lady Spartan has put up this year. To EHS coach Bill Nienstedt, her big game was evidence of the value of hard work.
“She was the first kid in the gym today, came in and shot before the JV game, even,” Nienstedt said. “And I don’t know — it seemed in a way like she had a little look in her eye this morning when we saw her this morning that said she was kind of feeling better about things.
“We need that. All teams are better if they have a couple of kids that can knock down outside shots, and she’s given that to us lots of times in the past, and we thought she did a good job today. And we thought she guarded better today, too, which is kind of important to us.”
Alli Armitage was also hitting from the outside, adding three 3-pointers to give Emporia 10 for the game. Her second three with about 45 seconds remaining in the first half put the Spartans up 39-16, and she found Lindy Arndt underneath for a layup just before the buzzer to give Emporia a 41-18 lead at the end of a solid first half that saw the Spartans carve up Leavenworth’s zone inside and out.
“That’s something we emphasized in practice Thursday night,” Nienstedt said. “We worked a little zone offense and really talked about getting the ball in and out of our hands like a hot potato. Moving the ball makes the zone move, and when you make the zone move, then seams get bigger, and you can send cutters through it and those type of things.”
In a sloppy third quarter, Emporia increased its lead to 50-20 following two Armitage free throws, but Leavenworth put together a slow-building 8-0 run that caused Nienstedt to call timeout following a turnover with 1:03 remaining. The Pioneers added another basket to close to within 50-30 at the end of the third, but they got no closer in the fourth quarter.
Hileman added 12 points for EHS, including 10 in the first half. She broke off two spin moves back to the baseline for impressive layins, one in the second quarter to make it 28-14 and one in the third to push the lead to 44-18. Armitage and Arndt each added 11 points. Jayme Jackson led Leavenworth with 14.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for Emporia (6-4), which now is on an 11-day break from game action before the Glacier’s Edge Tournament begins on Jan. 29. After a demoralizing loss to Shawnee Heights, a one-point thriller loss against Seaman, and getting outscored 28-1 in the second quarter against Washburn Rural, the Lady Spartans needed a victory to get back on track.
“It feels a lot better (to get the win),” Armitage said, “and I know we’ve gotten a lot better over these past four games.”
Saturday at Emporia High
Leavenworth 12 6 12 13 — 43
Emporia 21 20 9 17 — 67
Leavenworth — Foskett 1-3 0-0 3, Burns 3-7 3-7 9, Jackson 6-10 2-2 14, Davis 3-5 0-0 6, Harper 0-3 3-6 3, Brown 1-1 2-3 4, Lewis 1-1 0-0 2, Parker 0-1 0-0 0, Moe 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 16-32 10-18 43.
Emporia (6-4) — Armitage 3-7 2-2 11, Miller 0-2 2-2 2, Arndt 5-8 1-3 11, Heinrichs 1-3 1-2 3, Hileman 5-11 2-2 12, Kolmer 1-2 1-2 3, VanGundy 8-11 0-0 23, Leihsing 0-1 0-0 0, Scheve 0-0 0-0 0, Elbe 0-0 0-0 0, McRell 0-1 0-0 0, Waldner 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 24-47 9-13 67.
3-point goals — Leavenworth 1-8 (Foskett 1-3, Burns 0-3, Davis 0-1, Parker 0-1), Emporia 10-16 (VanGundy 7-9, Armitage 3-6, Miller 0-1). Total fouls — Leavenworth 13, Emporia 15. Fouled out — None. JV score — Emporia 50, Leavenworth 30.