Spartans smash Thunderbirds 52-29
Hastings erupts for career high 18
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Two days after a soul-searching team meeting, the Emporia High School girls basketball team played its most complete game of the season in a 52-29 win over Shawnee Heights.
Kayna Hastings scored a career high 18 points and eight different Spartans scored in a game that was basically over by halftime. Despite Brianna Knight having a season low 13 points, it was the largest margin of victory this season for EHS (3-5, 3-4).
The Thunderbirds (2-7, 1-5) were inept offensively for the first three quarters, scoring just 14 points. Junior Kelsey Morgan, who had 15 in Tuesday’s win over Topeka West, missed her first eight shots and was held to six points.
EHS coach Bill Nienstedt said he thought the Spartans ability to guard Shawnee Heights off the dribble was key.
“I thought it started with us doing a good job containing dribblers,” Nienstedt said. “They ran a lot of high ball screen where (Danielle) Poblarp can go either direction. I thought our post players did a good job of high hedging that by not letting her turn the corner and be a creative player. Then Emily (Burris) did a good job of recovering after she had been screened.”
The win snapped a three game losing streak. EHS lost to No. 1 Highland Park 43-30 Tuesday and dropped games the previous week to Manhattan and Topeka Hayden.
Nienstedt said a point driven home at a team meeting Wednesday was to not be afraid to invest something.
“When you invest, it can hurt if you don’t succeed,” he said. “But if you do succeed, it makes the joy that much better. It was good to so the kids make the investment by being vocal and being more energetic. We started the game that way. It’s good they got a reward for that. Because, let’s face it, we needed one.”
Another point talked about during the meeting was being aggressive at all times. That message was received loud and clear Friday.
“Our kids are really unselfish” Nienstedt said. “None of them mind that Brianna’s our leading scorer. ...But at the same time, our coaching staff has felt we need to attack the basket both with the dribble and cuts better. I thought tonight we attacked off the dribble and we passed the ball well when we did.”
EHS scored the first five points of the game on a Hastings drive and a Brianna Knight inside score and a free throw. Knight then went up and over two defenders to lay the ball in and make it a 7-2 game. EHS was held scoreless for the next four minutes, but the Thunderbirds only scored two points during that span.
A Hastings 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter ended the drought. EHS ended the half by scoring the last seven points over a six minute span. Knight scored two of the buckets and Alex Johnson nailed a short jumper.
The T-Birds made just two shots in the first half, both on Poblarp jumpers. She missed eight other shots though, including six 3-pointers. As a team the T-Birds shot 2 of 21 in the first half compared to 9 of 21 for EHS.
Johnson hit a shot to open the second half and Hastings nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the lead to 30-10. The lead reached as high as 26 in the fourth quarter,
“Quite a few times we got to the rim, finished and got fouled,” Nienstedt said. “We were definitely in a more aggressive mindset offensively.”
The Spartans step out of league play Tuesday to visit Lawrence Free State.
Friday at Emporia
Shawnee Heights 4 2 8 15 — 29
Emporia 10 11 18 13 — 52
SH: Poblarp 8, Morgan 6, Pierce 4, Tucker 4, Wittman 3, Wells 2, Hecker 2.
EMP: Hastings 18, Knight 13, Johnson 6, Wilhite 5, Starr 4, Burris 2, Sanchez 2, Guion 2.