Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Blair Schmitz Has Career Night; Bluejay Girls Rout Tarkio

Northeast Nodaway played its best game of the year against a highly-touted Tarkio squad in a game that figured to feature one of the top guards in the area in the Indians' Denise McEnaney. Tarkio played the box and one on Jacqueline Schulte, having one of their players face-guarding her all night and holding her to four points. They also figured to feature an interesting challenge for Northeast, who had not faced a guard-oriented team like Tarkio yet this year. The game figured to be a good one, as both last February's meeting and this summer's game both went down to the wire. But Northeast played its best game of the year in beating Tarkio 56-30 Monday in a makeup game. The old Willie Nelson classic "On the Road Again" seems to be a good candidate for a theme song for Northeast's girls, as their two best games of the year have both been on the road; they also routed Stanberry 55-28 as they crashed Stanberry's courtwarming celebrations earlier this year.

Northeast went without Kristin Sherry, who was sick and did not play. The challenge for them was to figure out a way to replace her intangibles -- her rebounding, her ability to run the floor and create fast break opportunitites for the rest of the team, and her deadly outside shooting. Sherry's shooting in the second half last summer had been instrumental in Northeast's win over the Indians. But that simply turned into an opportunity for some of the other players. Emily Bryant started and played her usual brand lights-out defense; Taylor Dougan came off the bench to knock down a couple of outside shots; Jessica Redden came off the bench and utilized the high post position effectively as she was constantly keeping the ball moving and allowing the Bluejays to penetrate the box and one with passes and open up the outside. Rachel Runde showed Coach Ryan Davis that she had gotten even better at on-the-ball defense than last year as Coach Davis allowed her to take some turns guarding Denise McEnaney; she contributed some offensive punch as well. Just as the rest of the team had Jacqueline Schulte's back against Nodaway-Holt after she was hurt, they had Kristin Sherry's back after she was sick and couldn't play against Tarkio.

And the rest of the team made Tarkio pay for trying to gang up on Schulte as it simply created openings for Blair Schmitz, who had a career night against the Indians. Used to playing against players much taller than her in the post, she had a field day against an Indian squad that didn't have anyone taller than 5'7" as she notched a career high of 19 points. Hallie Oelze, seeing some daylight against the box and one, matched a season high with 13 points. Michelle Schulte played lights-out defense against Denise McEnaney, stealing the ball from her twice; Emily Bryant also stole the ball from her. And moving without the ball is just as important as moving with the ball on offense; Jacqueline Schulte was constantly on the move against the box and one defender along the baseline. This occupied defenders who would have otherwise been focusing on Blair Schmitz, who got a lot of daylight to work with. And whenever Schulte went out, the rest of the team made good use of the Nodaway-Holt game, in which they played most of the game without her -- they were just as effective with her on the bench as they were with her on the court. In short, it was a total team effort.

And Northeast held Denise McEnaney to 11 points -- all of them hard-earned. McEnaney was a constant threat to drive to the basket against Northeast. However, five different defenders -- Jacqueline Schulte, Michelle Schulte, Rachel Runde, Emily Bryant, and Hallie Oelze -- all took turns guarding her. Coach Ryan Davis had talked earlier in the year about the Bluejays needing to do a better job helping out on defense, but the help defense was as good as it was all year as there was always a helper in McEnaney's face if she got by her initial defender. Northeast forced "only" 22 turnovers, much lower than previous outings this year. However, that is high for a good ball-handling team like Tarkio. And the Indians constantly rushed shots, which the press is designed to create. That meant there were no fewer fast break opportunities than before, as the rushed shots might as well have been turnovers for Tarkio.

Hallie Oelze opened the scoring with a 3-pointer for Northeast; Blair Schmitz followed with an inside shot and Hallie got a fast break bucket to make it 7-0 in the first two minutes of the game. Tarkio finally got on the board as Michelle McEnaney got a layup after Northeast overextended on defense; however, Michelle Schulte countered with a steal and drive. Denise McEnaney hit a 3-pointer with Runde in her face, but Runde took a drive and got open on the right baseline and Blair Schmitz stepped out to hit a shot from the left baseline to put Northeast up 13-5. They led 15-7 after one quarter of play.

The Bluejay juggernaut kicked into high gear in the second quarter as Hallie Oelze hit a pair of shots from the right wing to start off; the second shot was over Denise McEnaney. Jacqueline Schulte, who had not scored yet, finally got on the board, scoring off a Rachel Runde steal. Even Schulte's second foul of the half, which sent her to the bench, did not break the run as Michelle Schulte stole the ball from Denise McEnaney and got a layup. Emily Bryant followed with a shot from the right wing with a defender in her face and Hallie Oelze grabbed an offensive carom and fed Runde to make it 27-7.

Tarkio tried to follow South Nodaway's lead as they extended their zone defense, got in the passing lanes, and tried to get some steals to get back in the game. It created some problems for Northeast at first and Jacqueline Schulte, after checking back in, picked up her third foul. Krysta Beattie hit a pair of free throws to cut Northeast's lead to 31-13 with 1:23 left. But with Northeast needing a long possession, they got one as they ran huge chunks of time off the clock. Finally, Taylor Dougan drove the lane and found Jessica Redden wide open at the buzzer to leave Northeast up 33-13 at the break.

With three fouls, Jacqueline Schulte started off the second half on the bench and Tarkio sought to make a run in her absence as Denise McEnaney got a pair of drives to the basket to cut Northeast's lead to 37-19. Michelle McEnaney got loose underneath for Tarkio while Blair Schmitz scored on a pair of inside shots for Northeast. But Schulte came back in and her putback with 5:32 ignited a 10-0 run that put the game away. Rachel Runde followed with a shot from the high post, Hallie Oelze scored off a fast break, Blair Schmitz scored off a drive to the basket, and Michelle Schulte followed with a steal in the backcourt to put Northeast up 47-19 at the 3:51 mark of the third quarter. Five straight baskets from Michelle McEnaney cut the lead to 47-24, but a shot from Taylor Dougan showed everyone that it was Northeast's night. Dougan took a baseline shot that arched high in the air, hit the supporting wire over the basket, and dropped in the basket.

Blair Schmitz dominated the paint in the fourth quarter as she opened the scoring with a putback. Emily Bryant then stole the ball from Denise McEnaney and fed Blair Schmitz, whose runner rolled halfway around the rim and then dropped through -- "That shot doesn't go in back in Ravenwood," quipped Coach Ryan Davis about the shot. Schmitz then got open after a Rachel Runde drive and converted a 3-point play to give Northeast its biggest lead of the game at 56-26 -- her free throw was the only attempt of the night for Northeast.

No comments: