Worth County, for the first fifteen minutes of their second meeting with Northeast Nodaway, gave the highly-touted Bluejays everything they could handle in their second meeting with the Bluejays in as many weeks Tuesday, July 7th. They were not allowing good looks on defense, getting back in transition, and even forcing a few turnovers. Jacqueline Schulte returned after missing a week with a bruised knee, but that did not seem to matter for a while as the Tigers had come to play. But then, Hallie Oelze made her return and saw her first action since tearing an ACL last December against West Nodaway. Although Oelze did not score a point and saw only limited action, the mere fact that she was back on the court seemed to give Northeast's players a jolt of energy as they finished the first half with a 19-2 run to lead 24-6; they would go on to win 46-11.
Ashley Reynolds started off the scoring for Worth County with a putback; Emily Bryant countered with a shot from the baseline and Kenzie Waldeier scored a free throw. Brooke Gilland answered with a drive and threw up a prayer that went in at the 15:39 mark, and it seemed that it might be one of those nights where everything went Worth County's way. The only basket that either team scored during the next ten minutes was a shot from the right wing from Jacqueline Schulte that made it 5-4 at the 11:31 mark. But then, after Oelze came in, Northeast suddenly made their huge run that put Worth County away.
Michelle Schulte scored a free throw off an offensive board with 5:42 left and then Jacqueline, seemingly rejuvenated after missing a week with her knee injury, followed with a steal and then scored again off a Michelle Schulte steal in a 15-second span to make it 10-4 at the 5:14 mark. Kristan Judd then burned the Tigers with a backdoor layup at the 4:35 mark; nine seconds later, Jacqueline Schulte got yet another steal to make it 14-4.
Ashley Reynolds answered with a steal of her own at the 3:52 mark to make it 14-6, but NEN Coach Ryan Davis put in his other group of players, who followed with a run of their own. Rachel Runde scored in the paint, Kenzie Waldeier scored off a putback, Kristin Sherry scored off a steal, Taylor Dougan scored off yet another steal, and Kristen Sherry worked a give and go with Bryant at the buzzer to make it 24-6 at the break.
Worth County came out and sought to hang with Northeast in the second half. Brooke Gilland posted up inside and drew a foul and made one out of two free throws for Worth County. Baseline shots from Kristin Sherry and Emily Bryant were answered by a fast break by Reynolds against the press to make it 28-9. But then, Northeast put the Schulte sisters back in and the Bluejays were once again off to the races. First, Jacqueline Schule got a steal and layup. Kristan Judd then blocked a shot that Jacqueline Schulte rebounded and threw to Michelle Schulte for the layup. Emily Bryant then scored a fast break off a Kristen Sherry block; Sherry returned the favor by cleaning up on a Bryant steal. Sherry then scored off a Taylor Dougan steal to make it 38-9 with 9:16 left; Northeast had scored 10 points in a two-minute span.
Brooke Gilland scored from the baseline after a steal with 5:23 left, but Northeast answered with a final flurry of points at the end. Jacqueline Schulte answered with a putback and a pair of free throws, Michelle Schulte went coast to coast after getting a defensive board, and Kristin Sherry scored a pair of free throws after a steal to round out the scoring for Northeast.
No comments:
Post a Comment