By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After dropping a five-point decision to Hayden earlier in the season, Emporia took the fight to the Wildcats throughout Tuesday's rematch, taking a 54-40 win at Hayden in the Centennial League opener for both teams.
Junior Brylee Meier scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Hayden's 54-40 Centennial League loss to Emporia Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
No. 2-ranked Hayden (Class 3A) led only once on the night, at 2-0, while No. 6-ranked Emporia (5A) led by as many as 20 points midway through the fourth quarter en route to improving to 6-1 overall.
"That was an emphasis for us, we talked about that,'' Emporia coach Carolyn Dorsey said of the Spartans' aggressiveness. "I thought when they were at our place, we were bad. We were on our heels and they punched us and they punched us hard and it took us the entire game to recover.
"I thought tonight the focus was swing first and attack first and don't you stop and I thought that's what we were able to do tonight.''
Emporia jumped out to an 11-6 first-quarter advantage and boosted its lead to 23-15 at the halftime break.
"It was a very physical game that first half and we got taken out of what we wanted to do offensively,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "In the second half we did a much better job of attacking and got some good looks but we had several (shots) that didn't go that normally do and just didn't shoot the ball well from 3 either.''
Hayden, which fell to 5-1, got within five points twice early in the second half, the last time at 27-22, but the Spartans responded with a 9-0 run to take a 36-22 lead with 2:43 left in the third.
Senior Reagan Huscher hit a 3-pointer to cut Hayden's deficit to 11 but Emporia pushed its lead back to 15 points (44-29) at the end of the third, getting a bucket from senior standout Addie Kirmer at the buzzer.
Emporia opened up a 20-point advantage (50-30) on two Kirmer free throws with 4:18 remaining and Hayden got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Kirmer was the star of the game, finishing with a game-high 26 points.
Senior Lexsey DeWitt added 11 points for the Spartans, who had eight players crack the scoring column.
Junior Brylee Meier had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead Hayden while senior Avery Grunert added 12 points, with a pair of 3-pointers.
Senior Lauren Sandstrom and Grunert both fouled out while Hayden's Reynoldson was also hit with a technical foul in the third quarter.
"We need to play to however they're letting us play and we didn't do that as well as they did,'' Reynoldson said.
Hayden will face another tough Centennial League test on Friday, hosting Washburn Rural.
The Junior Blues, ranked No. 6 in 6A, improved to 5-1 with a 58-31 road romp at Junction City Tuesday night.
EMPORIA GIRLS 54, HAYDEN 40
Emporia 11 12 21 10 -- 54
Hayden 6 9 14 11 -- 40
Emporia (6-1, 1-0) -- Peak 2-5 2-4 6, Kirmer 8-12 8-10 26, Bennett 1-2 1-2 4, DeWitt 2-2 6-8 11, Shivley 0-1 1-2 1, Gutierrez 0-0 2-2 2, Herkens 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 1-2 0-0 3, Pearson 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 14-24 21-30 54.
Hayden (5-1, 0-1) -- Grunert 3-6 4-5 12, Sandstrom 2-4 0-0 4, Fulton 0-4 0-0 0, Meier 4-10 6-7 14, Greco 2-9 0-0 5, Reid 1-2 0-0 2, Huscher 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 13-36 10-12 40.
3-point goals -- Emporia 5 (Kirmer 2, Bennett, DeWitt, Baker), Hayden 4 (Gruntert 2, Huscher, Greco). Total fouls -- Emporia 18, Hayden 24. Fouled out – Grunert, Sandstrom. Technical foul -- Hayden bench.
