Lady Eagles Play Strong and Win Over Rhema Bible

On Friday December 4 our Emmaus Lady Eagles basketball team took on Rhema Bible College of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. This game proved to be heavy on the guard play as both Rhema and Emmaus seem to be light in the post position. Nakiah Kimble returned to the Emmaus lineup after recovering from an injury and Shelby Hembera returned to bench rest upon Coach Graw's injury recovery plan. "I had a plan for Shelby coming into the season and I wanted to remain focused on our long term goals. I know she desperately wants to play but we must remain focused on the process. I want her going into Christmas break with a tremendous amount of positive energy and no setbacks. We accomplished our goals and I look forward to having a post presence playing 35+ minutes a game when we return from break," said Coach Graw.

In the midst of pre-finals week with final projects and papers, it's as if the Lady Eagles used the game as a stress reliever and came out blazing from behind the arc. They looked relaxed, joyful, and in sync as one body. Rhema's guard play in Briana Smith, Whitney Jacobs, and Ariel Henton had been the most skilled guards Emmaus had seen all year. However, Rhema seemed to be stunned by the amount of talent within the Emmaus rotation. Sharon Tomlinson, Nakiah Kimble, and Marissa Kerttula chased down their guards the entire game while Madison Laib and Rachel West decided they wanted to combine for 13 three pointers (13/24) throughout the game. Rhema also shot well as Briana Smith scored 25 points and Ariel Henton followed it up with 19, but with the leadership of Nakiah Kimble at point guard she would not let her team fall apart even as Rhema cut the game to 4 multiple times within the third and fourth quarters. "Nakiah is our floor general, like a conductor of an orchestra she gets people in the right place at the right time while making the right pass. When they try to press us she takes control and calms us all down as she picks apart the defense. I can't tell you enough just how valuable Nakiah is to our team as one of our leaders. The things Nakiah does for us may not be seen on the stat sheet. Leadership is influence and she sets our emotional tone and keeps us playing medium instead of high and low. It's always a pleasure to sit back and watch Nakiah create her masterpiece with such humility and love for her teammates," says Coach Graw.

Emmaus would close out the game with a final score of 78-64 as Madison Laib finished with a season high of 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists followed by Rachel West with 18 points and 8 rebounds and Nakiah Kimble chipped in 11 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.