Lady Eagles Unite in Victory Over AFLBS

 On Friday, November 13 the Lady Eagles of Emmaus Bible College took on AFLBS of Plymouth, MN. This is the first ACCA conference game for Emmaus and it would give a glimpse into how much the Lady Eagles have improved from the previous season.

The first quarter of the game was back and forth with the score being fairly close. Emmaus, who is typically a good outside shooting team, seemed to be a little off as their leading scorer Madison Laib and three point specialist Rachel West couldn't quite connect from outside consistently. AFLBS with a dynamic scorer Katie Berge seemed to be getting hot as her flashy ball handling and spin moves excited the home crowd. Emmaus remained ahead 20 to 18 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter would be a quite different as the Lady Eagles clamped down on defense and focused on getting to the rim on offense. Behind the quickness of Nakiah Kimble and the post presence of Shelby Hembera, the Eagles attacked the basket ferociously. This led to the Lady Eagle "Trifecta Trio" in Madison Laib, Rachel West, and Erin Edmondson to start knocking down shots outside and forced AFLBS to scramble in exhaustion trying to cover the inside-out strategy of Emmaus. Emmaus led 41 to 28 at the half.

The third quarter was similar to the first in regards to both teams exchanging points back and forth. The Eagles remained steadfast in the fight even though leading scorer Madison Laib was having an off shooting night. She helped her team in other ways on the defensive end with 6 defensive rebounds and 4 steals. She would later knock down some key 3 pointers that ultimately would seal the game. The 3rd quarter ended with a score of 63 – 52 Emmaus.

The Lady Eagles would go on to dominate the fourth quarter and win by a final of 81-61. The big story of the night might be the breakout game by freshman Shelby Hembera who finished the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds and gave the Lady Eagles a strong post presence. Coach Graw has been playing her selectively as she fully recovers from her season-ending injury last season when she played for Cedar Valley Christian in Cedar Rapids, IA.  Coach Graw had this to say about the game. "When I look at this group, I see us cultivating a team culture that truly honors Christ. Our girls unconditionally and sacrificially love one another as Christ loves us. We are going through quite a bit of adversity as a team that is out of our control and when I look at the stat sheet and see point totals of 20, 15, 14, 13, 10 and 8, I think, how do you guard that? It's a blessing to see our unity in humility, putting others' interest above our own, and then actually seeing that on the stat sheet in numeric form. It is an absolute honor to coach these girls."

The Lady Eagles were led by Shelby Hembera with 20 points and 10 rebounds, Madison Laib with 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals, and Nakiah Kimble with 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.