Northeast Nodaway's Junior High Girls gained revenge against Worth County in the opening round of their own tournament as they took a big early lead against Worth County and then held them off in the closing seconds to win 19-18 Tuesday. While the players swore that they were not out for revenge, everyone's actions suggested otherwise -- for instance, student assistant Blair Schmitz wore a black and gold jacket in a bit of reverse psychology. Northeast, which had been struggling to score all year, completely fluxommed the Tigers in the first 2 1/2 minutes, getting nine points in that time span to go up 9-0. Most of them were off steals off their press as the players were showing the kind of physical play that Coach Ryan Davis said they needed to have after Northeast's loss to Worth County earlier this year.
Sidney Thummel finally broke the ice for Worth County, getting a shot from the right baseline off a Liz Novak drive. Worth County started playing more effectively after Breanna Fletchall came in and started hounding Northeast on defense and doing a good job helping out. But they could not get any closer as Taryn Farnan came out of nowhere to reject a Tiger layup after Worth County had gotten a steal off their press. Holly Redden scored off a fast break after going to the basket to put Northeast up 11-2 after one quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Northeast got the ball on a turnover, only to throw an errant pass out of bounds downcourt. "That's like a punt," quipped Coach Davis over the play. Katie Mullock scored from the right wing for Worth County with 4:36 left, but Northeast pushed it right back down the floor and got it into Taryn Farnan to make it 13-4. The Bluejays swarmed the Tigers on defense, getting them out of their offense and Claudia Wiederholt stole a ball and get a layup to give Northeast its largest lead of the night at 15-4.
But then Worth County settled down and started moving the ball sharper on offense as Breanna Fletchall continued her sharp play on defense and Kristen Andrews started playing strong on-the-ball defense, grabbing and tearing at loose balls. Liz Novak got loose on a fast break and got the ball to Katie Mullock for a baseline jumper, Kristen Andrews got a shot from the wing off a Katelyn Davidson kickout, and Kristen Andrews went coast to coast with 4 seconds left after Northeast had missed two close shots to make it 15-10. That was a four-point swing and there was a big difference between being down 17-8 and 15-10.
Katie Mullock connected from inside right off the bat, but then the Bluejays stiffened. They only managed a pair of free throws from Taryn Farnan, but were able to keep the ball on their end of the court for most of the period as Worth County could not buy a defensive board. On the other hand, they were able to bother Northeast with a 1-3-1 press that they put in at the start of the fourth quarter. The score was stuck at 17-12 from midway through the third quarter through midway through the fourth quarter before Kaitlyn Davidson cleaned up on a miss, making it 17-14 with 3:38 left.
Davidson's bucket triggered off a frantic finish in which Worth County could not quite make up the deficit. Northeast struggled at the line down the stretch as both Shayna Dougan and Taryn Farnan saw attempts at the line go in and out. Finally, Kristin Andrews stripped a Northeast ballhander in the backcourt and the ball rolled out of bounds with 2:04 left to give them the ball. The Tigers missed three close shots -- all airballs, but Kaitlyn Davidson drew a foul on Taryn Farnan and one of her free throws banked off the glass and rolled in with 1:58 left to make it 17-15. Her second free throw missed, but took a crazy bounce off Farnan and out of bounds. But consecutive misses by Worth County gave the ball back to Northeast and then Jenny Seipel's first free throw with 1:43 left rolled all over the rim before dropping in to make it 18-15.
The frantic sequence continued as Jenny Seipel stole the ball on the press, Liz Novak stole the ball back for Worth County, but then Taryn Farnan got a steal for Northeast. Claudia Wiederholt missed twice, but then Liz Novak traveled with the ball after the rebound to give the ball right back to Northeast with 58 seconds left. Katie Mullock picked up her fifth foul with 54 seconds left and then Claudia Wiederholt hit a free throw to make it 19-15. Shayna Dougan then got a steal for Northeast, but Breanna Fletchall stole the ball right back and fed the ball to Liz Novak for a layup to make it 19-17. Kristen Andrews then stole the ensuing inbounds pass, but missed the layup. However, the ball went out of bounds off a blue shirt and Worth County had another shot with 30 seconds left.
The ball went out of bounds off of Kristen Andrews and Northeast had to bring it up against fullcourt pressure. Kristen Andrews knocked the ball loose, touching off a frantic scramble for the ball in which Claudia Wiederholt picked up her fifth foul, putting Liz Novak on the line. Novak made her first free throw to make it 19-18, but her second try was short with 12.1 seconds left. The rebound was a tie-up and the possession arrow pointed to Northeast. The Bluejays ran the clock all the way down to 5.8 seconds in the backcourt before Novak fouled Taryn Farnan. Farnan's free throws missed and Worth County got timeout called with 4.7 seconds left. The Tigers were able to work the ball to Novak on the right side; however, her shot under heavy pressure went astray to give Northeast the one-point win.
After hanging on for another one-point win, this time over South Nodaway, Northeast bowed out to St. Gregory's 25-8 for the championship trophy. Worth County avenged an earlier loss to Jefferson by beating them 22-18, but fell to Avenue City 22-12 for the consolation game.
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