Not many teams can go into Rockne Hall at Central Catholic High School and come out with a win over the girls basketball team. It had been a long time since Emmaus was able to accomplish that feat, but the Hornets can cross that off their bucket list.

Emmaus went into Rockne last Thursday and came away with a 40-39 win over the Vikettes in a game that not only built confidence for the Hornets, but sent a bit of a message that they can no longer be thought of as an easy win for opponents.

“It was truly one of the best wins that I’ve seen in this program the last couple years,” said Emmaus head coach Carl Scheitrum. “I don’t even remember the last time that we won over at Rockne, that’s how special it was. How they won the game was special. They kept their composure for all 32-minutes and that’s a big thing against Central, because they just sort of work you until they tire you out.”

Emmaus again showed composure the following night against an undefeated Fleetwood team that handed Emmaus a 47-45 loss heading into the Christmas break. Both teams had opportunities to keep momentum on their side, but neither was able to pull away and lock up the game until the final seconds.

Both teams also had a big scare in the game when their top players – Kiyae White of Emmaus and Lauren Lister of Fleetwood – collided and both fell hard to the court. After a lengthy delay, both players had to be helped from the floor, with White not putting any weight on her left leg and Lister apparently having hit her head on the court.

White returned a couple minutes later, but in the interim, the Tigers had stretched their lead to 47-42.

“When we collided, our knees hit pretty hard,” said White, who missed all of last season with an ACL tear. “It was a little scary, but when I had a couple minutes to get past it and I realized that I was OK, I just wanted to get back into the game.”

While White returned for the final 1:31, Lister did not return to the game for Fleetwood.

Emmaus had opportunities, but couldn’t capitalize, even after Fleetwood missed four straight foul shots in the final 12-seconds of the game. Emmaus had one final chance, with Leah Tannous launching a three-pointer at the buzzer, but the shot was no good.

White finished the night with 21 points and 17 rebounds for Emmaus. Eight of White’s points came on plays where she pulled down an offensive rebound and put the ball in the net on a second chance play for the Hornets.

“Kiyae and Bri [Hart] have really been crashing the boards these last three or four games,” said Scheitrum. “That is just so important, because it helps so much if we can cut down on the chances that our opponents have. The opportunity for second chance points has helped, because we’ve been able to convert a lot of those.”

One of the bugs that Scheitrum has been working on fixing was the team’s transition game, which may have been at its best against Fleetwood.

Emmaus has been able to beat teams into the transition and come away with better shot opportunities by getting the ball down the court quickly before teams can set their defense.

“We’ve worked really hard on that and the girls have been getting better and better. I think we’re seeing how much it can help us,” Scheitrum explained.

Emmaus is playing in a tournament at Berwick this week and then heads back into conference play after the New Year with a trip to Whitehall and a home game against Dieruff set for next week.