After a quiet first five quarters of the Glacier’s Edge, Brianna Knight hit three straight shots to start the second quarter for Emporia High.
And a Kayna Hastings 3-pointer and an Alex Johnson driving basket and you had an 11-0 run that Great Bend never recovered from. EHS had an easy time from there and notched a 46-25 victory over the Panthers Friday.
After a tough loss to a ranked Hutchinson team Thursday to open the Glacier’s Edge Tournament, EHS (4-8) bounced back by soundly beating a Great Bend squad that is 1-11 and averages just 29 points a game.
Nonetheless, the Panthers concerned EHS coach Bill Nienstedt coming into the contest.
“It’s disheartening not to play in the semifinals,” he said. “I was really, really concerned coming in because Great Bend showed yesterday they will play really, really hard. I was concerned about how we would compete because that’s been an issue for us. But we did much better at that.”
EHS had played in the last five Glacier’s Edge championship games so the consolation side of the bracket was foreign territory.
“We can’t concern ourselves with it,” Nienstedt said. “It’s about trying to get better and winning the next game on our schedule. If you spend time feeling sorry for yourself, your wasting time.”
Johnson said even with the hard loss to Hutchinson it was important that they came out with a lot of energy Friday.
“We played together as a team tonight,” Johnson said. “We made a lot of good decisions.”
Knight led the Spartans with 16 points and seven rebounds, but EHS got contributions from all 10 players that saw action. For the second straight game, the bench made several key plays, including a career high six points from Bethany Bowman.
“We again got good bench play,” Nienstedt said. “We subbed real quick at the six minute mark with Hayley (Guion), Raegan (Sanchez) and Bethany. They gave us some energy that seemed to give us a spark.”
Both teams struggled offensively in the early going. Emporia missed its first seven shots and Great Bend started one for six. The game was still 2-2 after the first five minutes.
Emporia heated up with three buckets to end the quarter. Whitney Wilhite hit a jumper and then Hastings went strong to the hole on a drive. The final basket was with one second left on a Johnson putback of Knight’s miss. Johnson had eight points and four rebounds.
“Alex was better on the boards tonight,” Nienstedt said. “She got a stick back at the end of the quarter that was a momentum type basket. She’s talented offensively. She’s still battling through some injuries. She had rotator cuff surgery in May. To be honest, it still bothers here.”
The 11-0 run gave EHS a 19-6 lead. A Knight jumper and Bowman score put the Spartans up 23-10 at halftime.
EHS outscored Great Bend 15-3 in the third quarter to increase the lead to 38-13. Great Bend played better in the fourth to make it a more respectable score. Morgan Harwood led the Panthers with nine points.
The Spartans will play Wichita Northwest at 11 a.m. this morning at the high school in the fifth place game. They defeated Shawnee Heights 36-25 in the other consolation game.
“They are athletic and defended well,” Nienstedt said. “They don’t have great size, but it looks like they have a couple of active post players. It will be a tough one.”
Friday at Emporia High School
Great Bend 4 6 3 12 — 25
Emporia 8 15 15 8 — 46
GB: Harwood 9, Kutina 8, Crosby 3, Mauler 2, Schneider 2, Doll 1
EMP: Knight 16, Hastings 10, Johnson 8, Bowman 6, Wilhite 4, Sanchez 2.
Other Glacier’s
Edge Games
Maize rolled into the title game with a fairly easy win over Highland Park Friday. The No. 3 seed Eagles defeated the second-seeded Scots 53-30. The Eagles led by 12 at halftime and built a 20 point lead in the third quarter. They will play top seed Olathe South in the finals at 2 p.m. today. Olathe South defeated Hutchinson 67-55 in the other semifinal.
Highland Park plays Hutchinson in the third place game at 12:30 p.m. today.
In a consolation game Wichita Northwest defeated Shawnee Heights 36-25. Northwest plays Emporia at 11 a.m. this morning in the main high school gym while Shawnee Heights plays Great Bend at the same time in the junior varsity high school gym.