Northeast Nodaway's girls started off strong and coasted to a 58-32 win over Elwood last Tuesday night in Platte Valley Conference action. The win was the lone easy game in a string of tough games at the end of the year before districts. Elwood came into the game with some size; that seemed to bother Northeast under the basket to some extent as they missed a lot of close shots in the game. They had a six-footer and two girls over 5'10", all of whom played. However, Northeast was able to use its pressure to harass Elwood's guards and force a ton of traveling and palming violations throughout the game. Michelle Schulte led the steal brigade with six; Blair Schmitz had five steals along with six assists and 10 rebounds.
Elwood came out in a zone, counting on its big players to deny easy baskets. However, it didn't matter as the Schulte sisters combined for 35 points as Jacqueline (21 points) and Michelle (14 points) were both hitting during the contest. Northeast was able to get plenty of open looks from outside as well.
Jacqueline Schulte hit a 3-pointer to start with after Kristin Sherry got some dribble penetration and kicked out. Michelle Schulte got a fast break layup after Elwood threw up a quick 3-pointer to try to match; Kristin Sherry jumped a pass for a steal to make it 7-0. Six-footer Shandell Kretzer hit a free throw, but Blair Schmitz scored from inside and Jacqueline Schulte cut backdoor off an inbounds play to make it 11-1. Kristin Sherry scored from the baseline to make it 13-3. Blair Schmitz picked up her second foul and sat down, which seemed to slow Northeast down as they only made one more basket, a baseline shot from Schulte off a kickout from Jessica Redden as Northeast led 15-5 after one quarter of play.
But as she has so often this year, Michelle Schulte changed the game around, this time with a steal of Elwood's initial possession in the second period to jump start another run for Northeast. Kristin Sherry scored off a skip pass from Blair Schmitz, Jacqueline Schulte followed her own miss following a turnover, and then Northeast converted a four-point play. Cammi Hansen came off the bench to get a steal and Michelle Schulte was fouled in transition. She made her first free throw and missed the second; however, Kristin Sherry managed to throw the ball out of bounds off Kretzer to give Northeast the ball back. On the ensuing possession, Northeast missed a shot but Blair Schmitz made an off-balance grab of the rebound and got it to Hansen just before she fell. Hansen kicked it out to Taylor Dougan for a 3-pointer to make it 25-5 and thwart any comeback hopes.
Following a free throw from Brianna Buckner, Jacqueline Schulte got a steal, fed to Michelle, who fed to Kristin Sherry for the layup. Jacqueline Schulte then got two blocked shots in one possession on the other end and then Michelle Schulte got another steal, fed it to Kristin Sherry, who flipped it to Jacqueline for the drive and layup. Michelle Schulte's free throw made it 30-6 with 2:12 left in the half. Kretzer converted a 3-point play on the other end, but Blair Schmitz hit a pair of free throws after Northeast had collected three offensive boards, Schulte scored on a backdoor layup after Elwood had collapsed on Schmitz in the high post, and Michelle Schulte hit a shot from the right wing after a kickout from Jacqueline as Northeast led 36-13 at the half.
Buckner hit an inside shot with 7:31 left to open the scoring, but Jacqueline Schulte scored off a Michelle Schulte steal and then added a shot from the right baseline. Blair Schmitz scored off a steal to make it 42-15. From there, the Bluejays stalled; there were two factors that contributed to that. First of all, Elwood checked in a freshman, Skyler Kretzer, who sparked the Panthers with her hustle; although she used up all of her fouls in the third, she seemed to give them some spark. Secondly of all, the second half was played at Elwood's slow pace as the referees, seemingly collecting pay for every whistle they blew, called everything.
The Panthers began playing with Northeast much more confidently, cutting the Northeast lead to 51-29 with 4:26 left in the fourth before Northeast caught a second wind and closed out the game on a run. Michelle Schulte hit a free throw, Kenzie Waldeier put back a missed free throw, Emily Bryant stole the ensuing inbounds pass and hit one out of two free throws, Bryant got another steal and Blair Schmitz put back her miss, and Kenzie Waldeier hit one out of two free throws after getting a steal. That made it 58-29 with 2:03 left; Coach Ryan Davis began substituting freely at that point. Sarah Teaney came off the bench for Northeast to tie up a ballhandler from behind and force a traveling call with her ball pressure for the third string.
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