When Blue Valley’s Shelby Geiman banked in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end a first half that Emporia High had dominated, her face formed a lightly exasperated look. Understandable, because for most of Friday night’s game, luck like that was about the only way the Tigers were getting on the board against the Spartans.
An 11-0 start and suffocating defense led third-seeded Emporia into today’s title game of the Glacier’s Edge Tournament with a 44-28 win over second-seeded Blue Valley. Emporia will take on fourth-seeded Manhattan at 2:30 p.m. following the Indians’ 65-54 upset of top-seeded Olathe East in Friday’s other semifinal.
For being the lower seed, the Spartans looked like the superior team from the moment the ball was tipped, especially on the defensive end. Easy shots were almost nonexistent for Blue Valley, which finished at 25 percent (9-for-36) from the floor.
“The team effort was there,” said Lindy Arndt, who scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds. “Everything just clicked. We had great ball pressure, we got to midline, good weak-side help, and everything just clicked for us, and that just really kind of set the tone for the whole game.”
A layin by Lexi Hileman, a Hilary Heinrichs jumper, the first of Alli Armitage’s three 3-pointers and a free-throw line jumper by Amber Miller off a kickout from Arndt made it 9-0 Spartans, and Hileman added another layin to complete the game-opening run. The Spartans kept Blue Valley off the scoreboard until two Nicole Gloor free throws at the 3:04 mark in the first quarter, and the Tigers didn’t knock down a shot until the second.
“It was a good start,” EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said. “It wasn’t an incredibly fast start. We just kept building, kept building, kept building, played real solid. It’s not like we just came out and we were up 11-0 in two minutes or something. Each possession, we won the possession, and showed great focus and great toughness, I thought. And for us, those two things are synonymous.”
With 1:12 remaining in the first, Arndt was fouled on a putback after twice rebounding her own miss. Her two free throws gave Emporia a 15-2 lead, and EHS kept rolling in the second period. Armitage banked in a 3-pointer from the right side to give EHS a 22-8 lead, then hit another three from the same side to widen the lead to 17. Geiman’s banked-in three brought the Tigers to within 27-14 at half.
Even when getting bogged down offensively in the second half, the Spartans kept the defense tight and had moments of solid offensive execution. Arndt curled into the lane, took a pass from Rachelle VanGundy and drove for a layin to give EHS a 33-17 lead. Then Arndt grabbed a steal, got the ball back from Heinrichs on a two-on-one break and got fouled, making both foul shots to make the Spartan lead 18 at the end of the third.
Blue Valley made a run in the fourth thanks to Geiman getting hot from 3-point range. She made a trio of threes during an 11-1 stretch for the Tigers that brought them to within 39-28 with just under three minutes remaining. But Emporia kept Blue Valley off the scoreboard from there, and the Spartans withstood some physical full-court pressure in the final minutes and kept getting the ball into Armitage’s hands. Armitage, who hyperextended her elbow in the third quarter and promptly returned, made 3-of-4 foul shots in the game’s final 2:33 and led Emporia with 15 points.
“They just turned it up, and our team didn’t adjust very well to it,” Armitage said. “But once we kind of just stepped back and took a look at it, we did better than we had done before.”
Hileman had eight points on perfect 4-of-4 shooting, and Miller added six points and five rebounds. The Spartans cleared 50 percent from the floor (13-of-25) and made 15-of-20 shots at the foul line. They outrebounded Blue Valley 29-14.
The win over Class 6A’s ninth-ranked team was the Spartans’ third straight following a three-game losing streak. Nienstedt said that even during that stretch, he felt like his team was improving.
“And take away that atrocious second quarter against Washburn Rural, we played good basketball there,” he said. “... When you practice well, it builds confidence, and you can’t help but get better and play better. And I think the main reason for that is our seniors provide such good leadership.”
Today’s title game will feature the Spartans against a team that not only knocked off the tournament’s top seed, but looked impressive doing so. Manhattan post Catherine Carmichael had 26 points in the Indians’ win over Olathe East.
In consolation-round action Friday, Seaman beat Wyandotte 71-15 and Wichita North beat Leavenworth 56-44. Leavenworth was to play Wyandotte for seventh place today at 11 a.m. in the JV gym, while Wichita North and Seaman were to square off for the consolation-round title at the same time in the main gym. Blue Valley and Olathe East will play in the third-place game at 1 p.m.
Emporia 44, Blue Valley 28
Blue Valley 4 10 3 11 — 28
Emporia 15 12 8 9 — 44
Blue Valley (9-4) — Berry 0-2 0-0 0, Geiman 6-11 1-2 17, Stinson 1-5 2-2 4, Smith 0-6 0-0 0, Gloor 0-5 2-2 2, Ball 0-2 0-0 0, Wormington 1-6 0-0 3, Popp 0-0 0-0 0, VanGerpen 0-0 0-0 0, Leathers 1-1 0-0 2, Tate 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-36 5-6 28.
Emporia (8-4) — Armitage 3-7 6-8 15, Miller 2-3 2-2 6, Arndt 2-6 6-8 10, Heinrichs 1-2 1-2 3, Hileman 4-4 0-0 8, VanGundy 0-2 0-0 0, Scheve 0-0 0-0 0, Leihsing 1-1 0-0 2, Kolmer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-25 15-20 44.
3-point goals — Blue Valley 5-18 (Geiman 4-8, Wormington 1-6, Gloor 0-2, Smith 0-1, Ball 0-1), Emporia 3-7 (Armitage 3-5, VanGundy 0-2). Rebounds — Blue Valley 14 (Ball 3), Emporia 29 (Miller, Arndt 5).