A week removed from a 77-34 demolition of Highland Park, the Manhattan High girls basketball team experienced quite the reversal of fortunes Friday night.

The team’s defense performed much the same — it was the offense that sputtered.

And that proved to be the difference Friday, as the Lady Indians were held under 40 points for the first time all season in a 46-34 road loss to Emporia.

The obstacles on the offensive end manifested themselves in various forms, including times when Manhattan found itself standing around, as junior Gigi McAtee, who finished with eight points, explained.

“We just kind of stopped moving,” she said. “We get stuck, and we’re not shooting well.”

Head coach Scott Mall simplified the issues: missed shots.

“We rely on shooting the basketball a lot, because that’s the way we are,” Mall said. “We just need to put it in the hole a little more.”

A bright spot on offense for Manhattan, though, was senior Madison Mittie, who totaled 13 points. After her team entered halftime trailing 14-12, Mittie canned two triples in the opening minutes of the third, and MHS lept ahead, 18-14. With two free throws that stretched the lead to 20-14, the Lady Indians had seized the momentum.

But that’s when Emporia was roused.

From there, the Lady Spartans went on an 8-2 tear and again leapfrogged Manhattan, but this time, it was for good.

Baskets from Taylor Birch and Kelsey Gordon sent Emporia into the fourth frame with a 26-24 lead, a lead from which it did not look back.

Manhattan made an array of attempts at comebacks in the fourth, but it was forced to foul the Lady Spartans to stop the clock and keep any hopes of a comeback alive. Such hopes gradually vanished as MHS watched Emporia sink 13-of-16 fourth-quarter free throws, however.

“Obviously you never want to be in that situation,” McAtee said. “They’re good free throw shooters, and that hurt.”

The possibility of a rally seemed perhaps most likely after McAtee converted on an and-one opportunity, three points that pulled Manhattan to within five with 48 seconds left. But Emporia responded by hitting 5-of-6 free throws to close out the win.

As the physical, defensive affair wore on, foul trouble became an increasingly prevalent issue for Manhattan. Senior Tarrah Bammes was whistled for her third late in the third frame, alongside Mittie, who picked up her fourth in the opening minutes of the fourth period.

As a result, several freshmen saw a spike in minutes, and Mall was pleased with their performances.

“I thought our girls came off the bench and played well. Haleigh Harper did good things; Chelsea Henry; Aubrey Downie all came in and did a good job,” Mall said. “Kia Wilson came in and made some nice moves to the basket.”

But the players Mall listed off were plagued with mirror images of what the starters experienced.

“We just didn’t get the ball in the basket enough,” he said.

When Mittie was in the game, though, she noticed that Emporia flip-flopped between different looks on defense, a strategy that caught her team off-balance on offense.

“They were kind of switching zone and man,” she said. “That was switching up what we were running, if we were going to run a play, or if we were just going to run motion. So I think that just kind of switched us up.”

Manhattan’s loss comes to the lone unbeaten team in the Centennial League, as Emporia improved to a spotless 6-0 in league play with the victory. Aside from Friday night’s over MHS, the wins have all been over squads in the bottom half of the league standings  —  the exact reason Mall stressed how eager the Lady Spartans were.

“Coach Mall, before the game, was telling us they’re excited to play us and show how good they really are, because they’ve not played very good league teams,” McAtee said. “It’s just frustrating.”

The first half was a tale of defense, as the teams entered the second period knotted at five points apiece. Emporia, aided by Emma Harmon’s four first-half points, took a 14-12 lead into the intermission.

Though Harmon would score just a single point more in the second half, the Lady Spartans used Tamia Victor’s 10-point performance to put the contest away.

The loss dips Manhattan’s record to 8-2 ahead of the McPherson Invitational that begins Thursday and concludes next Saturday. McAtee spelled out several areas in which she would like to see refinement from her team.

“We definitely need to work on zone offense; getting it inside and back out,” she said. “And some more conditioning. We need to be able to run up and down the court and get those buckets.”