Final
Rachelle VanGundy's 3-pointer with less than three seconds to go broke a 35-35 tie and sent the Lady Spartans to the second round of the State tournament with a 38-35 victory.
VanGundy buried the open look from the top of the key on a kickout from Lindy Arndt, who was triple-teamed. Lansing got one last shot, but Brittney Lang's heave from halfcourt hit the back and front of the iron before bouncing away.
VanGundy finished with 10 points and three steals. Lexi Hileman had 11 points and eight boards for Emporia, which will play Great Bend on Friday.
For complete coverage of the Spartans' win, please see Thursday's Gazette.
3rd quarter
Lansing leads 32-27 at the end of three quarters.
An Ashley Leihsing runner pulled Emporia to within 27-26 before the Lions went on a 5-1 run to close the quarter.
Halftime
TOPEKA — The Emporia High girls trail the Lansing Lions 21-20 at halftime in their first-round game of the Class 5A State tournament at the Kansas Expocentre.
The Lady Spartans trailed by as many as six, but cut their 16-10 deficit to 17-16 on two Rachelle VanGundy free throws with 4:05 remaining in the half. Two more free throws by Courtney Waldner gave them a 20-19 advantage with 2:23 left in the half, but Lansing scored on a runner by Brittney Lang with less than two minutes to go to retake the lead before the break.
VanGundy leads Emporia with five first-half points and also has two steals. Lindy Arndt, Lexi Hileman and Waldner each have four points, and Hileman had five first-half rebounds. The Spartans shot 7-of-16 in the first half and had nine turnovers; Lansing shot 7-of-21 and had eight turnovers.
siamesefred (anonymous) says...
"We’re a team that has played a lot of people all year,” Nienstedt said, “so we still like our chances, like our team.”
Glad to see Coach is right. A sign of a good, well-coached team is every player being able to step up when needed rather than needing one or two players to carry everyone else.
Way to go, girls. Good luck in the next round.
March 11, 2009 at 7:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Good job! And keep up the good work. I'm glad they could pull together and work so well together. I'm also glad the coach had the fortitude to ban a star player from playing due to disciplinary problems. I also respect him for not airing the problem in public but letting it pass uncommented. So hats off to the coach and the team.
March 12, 2009 at 9:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )