Northeast Nodaway girls closed out their best season in seven years with a gallant effort against Craig/Fairfax, but fell to the Bulldogs 51-40 in district semifinal action Wednesday night. Playing her last game of her career was Cammi Hansen, who developed into a strong role player for the Bluejays as well as a defensive stopper. The Bluejays figure to be one of the teams to beat in the area once again as they return everyone else to a 21-7 squad.
The Bluejays borrowed a page out of Worth County's playbook by employing the same defense that the Tigers used against CFX in their opening round game; they went to a 1-3 zone with Jacqueline Schulte guarding Whitney Harrington and denying her the ball. Schulte, still battling a case of strep throat, did her job admirably; not only did she hold Harrington to 9 points, she scored 14 points herself in the losing effort. But CFX's role players stepped up and filled in the void; Kelsey Sly scored 10 points, most of them during critical periods for the Bulldogs. And Amanda Geib scored 16 to lead all scorers for CFX.
Things started off well for Northeast as they scored the first six points of the game. CFX started out in a man to man to neutralize Northeast's 3-point shooting, which almost brought them back from the dead against the Bulldogs in their first meeting. But that allowed Northeast to slow down the game against the explosive CFX squad. Jacqueline Schulte scored from the left baseline, Blair Schmitz scored from the inside, and Kristin Sherry, playing with a stress fracture, scored from the left baseline after a Schmitz kickout. But then the Bulldogs rallied back and Sly hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put them in front 7-6.
That seemed to spark Craig/Fairfax, which went on to score 20 points in the second quarter despite Harrington not scoring her first points until the 2:36 mark in the period. CFX followed the lead of their opening-round game with Worth County, in which they started off slowly, but then used a strong second quarter to pull away. The game was played at their pace, as they were able to collect most of their points on drives, layups, and transition points. Northeast struggled at times against the relentless Bulldog press and Schulte was winded from battling her illness and guarding Harrington. Blair Schmitz tried to carry the Bluejays in the period, as she took a charge, got two free throws, and scored on a fast break after Kristin Sherry drove coast to coast and got her the ball. However, like the first game, she picked up her third foul and sat down for the last two minutes of the quarter. CFX led by as much as 25-12 before Schulte broke the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key after Michelle Schulte collected an offensive board despite her small size and kicked it out to her.
Northeast finally began breaking the CFX press as Blair Schmitz got open inside twice and Jacqueline Schulte drove against the press and missed a shot, but Michelle Schulte collected the putback on their third chance; that cut the Bulldog lead to 29-21. The game went into a long lull as Northeast couldn't buy a defensive board, but CFX was stymied by traveling calls as they were having trouble solving Northeast's 1-3-1 that they employed successfully against DeKalb. Harrington picked up her third foul, but Northeast gave up one offensive board too many and Geib's putback sparked a 6-0 run that put CFX back in control at 35-21 with 1:21 left. Schulte hit a transition 3-pointer after Northeast burned the press, but Geib's drive with 3 seconds left kept Craig/Fairfax in control at 36-24.
Back came the Bluejays at the start of the fourth qaurter, sparked by the play of Jessica Redden. She opened the scoring with an inside shot off an inbounds play; she would play strong defense against their inside game. Jacqueline Schulte followed by a drive down the middle against the pressure and hit a pair of free throws, causing CFX to take off their press for a few plays. Kristin Sherry hit a shot from the right wing after a Michelle Schulte drive and kickout, and the Bluejays were within striking distance at 36-30. But Craig/Fairfax spread out the floor and isolated Harrington, and her drive to the basket and a subsequent steal and drive by Geib put the lead back up 40-30 with 4:08 left. The teams traded buckets down the stretch, but the Bulldogs' role players stepped up again as they scored the last seven points for their team. Amanda Yocum's 3-point play gave the Bulldogs a 47-34 lead with 2:06 left.
Jacqueline Schulte struck again, driving to the basket with 1:55 to kickstart a Bluejay rally. Michelle Schulte scored off a Schulte kickout and Taylor Dougan, recovering from an injury enough to play, came off the bench to chip in a shot from the left wing with 1:10 left to cut the margin to 47-40 with 1:10 left. But CFX went to Sly, and she hit four for four from the line in the final 56 seconds to deny Northeast a comeback and a chance to play Jefferson.
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