Kristen Sherry opened the scoring with a free throw after Michelle Schulte tipped a ball to her for a steal; Jacqueline Schulte followed with a drive to make it 3-0. But then the Longhorn inside game got going as Shelby Freemeyer got loose twice and Brooke Wolf got a backdoor layup to put South Nodaway up 6-3. But Michelle Schulte seems to have a knack for stepping in at the right time and turning games around and she did so again, hitting a free throw and then turning around and getting a steal to tie it at 6-6. Wolf hit from inside as the parade of missed free throws continued, but Schulte got another steal to tie it at 8. Jacqueline Schulte followed her own miss and hit both free throws and Blair Schmitz hit from the top of the key with 8 seconds left in the period to put Northeast up 12-8. Michelle Schulte had nine steals in the game, six in the first quarter when South Nodaway was threatening to establish control of the game.
Wolf scored yet again, this time getting a three point play after a 3rd-chance try, but Michelle Schulte hit from the left wing and then Blair Schmitz scored off a Jacqueline Schulte steal to make it 16-11. But Northeast fell into a rash of hacking and fouling; two free throws each from Cheyanne Murphy and Brooke Wolf, a baseline shot from Shelby Jewett, and another free throw from Sara Coleman put South Nodaway back up 18-16 with 2:42 left in the half. But once again, Michelle Schulte changed the course of the game as she pushed the pall up the floor following the second free throw, took it in on Wolf, made the layup, and drew Wolf's 3rd foul. She converted the 3-point play to make it 19-18 and put Northeast up for good. Following a five-seconds call on South Nodaway, Hallie Oelze was hammered and made both free throws to make it 21-18. Oelze then got a steal and drive and then followed with a 3-pointer to put Northeast up 26-18.
The officials then saw fit to take over as Shelby Jewett stuck her hand out and pushed Oelze away from her as she was trying to fend off her defensive pressure; Oelze was called for the foul. This is contrary to the rulebook, which states that the player who initiates contact (Jewett) should be called for the foul without regard to offense and defense. Jewett made both free throws. Following a baseline jumper by Jacqueline Schulte, the officials lent another helping hand to South Nodaway. Shelby Freemeyer took the ball at the top of the key and took three long steps to the basket without dribbling the ball. But instead of calling the obvious walk, the officials claimed that Oelze fouled her on the shot. Not only did South Nodaway get a free throw on the play, it was Oelze's third foul, which sent her to the bench.
But Northeast negated the gifts from the officials to South Nodaway as Jacqueline Schulte cut inside for a layup. With four seconds left, South Nodaway was inbounding the ball underneath Northeast Nodaway's basket. Emily Bryant got the steal on the press and fed to Blair Schmitz in the high post, whose jumper at the buzzer put Northeast up 32-21.
South Nodaway was reeling at that point, but like a boxer saved by the bell, the Longhorns came right back at Northeast. First, Northeast lost Murphy in one of their rare defensive miscues of the game and she dropped a 3-pointer on them to get it under double digits. South Nodaway made an adjustment as they switched from a 2-3 and a 1-3 zone with one player chasing Jacqueline Schulte to a 1-3-1 with their players playing the passing lanes. The adjustment worked as they started jumping one pass after another to get back in the game. Wolf followed with a pair of inside shots to make it 32-28 before Kristin Sherry made one out of two free throws to make it 33-28. Shelby Freemeyer hit a free throw, but then both Wolf and Freemeyer picked up their fourth foul and sat out the rest of the period. Jacqueline Schulte hit from the top of the key to finally give Northeast its first field goal of the period, but Kristi Heideman grabbed a putback at the buzzer for South Nodaway to make it 35-31 after three quarters. It was the first quarter that Northeast's girls had lost all year.
With Freemeyer and Wolf back in to start the fourth quarter, Miranda Jones opened the scoring for the Longhorns with a shot from the right wing to make it 35-33. And then, there was a heartstopping moment for Northeast as Wolf took off all alone following a Bluejay miss and had a wide open layup. But her shot went astray and rolled out and Emily Bryant hit a shot from the right wing with 6:22 left to make it a four-point game. Jacqueline Schulte got a steal on the subsequent possession and fed the ball to Bryant, who made the play of the game. Knowing Freemeyer had four fouls, Bryant shot over her. Freemeyer leaped up into the air and blocked the shot, but landed on Bryant for her fifth foul. Blair Schmitz then blocked an inside shot by Wolf on the next possession and Jacqueline Schulte saved an errant shot from going out of bounds right to Hallie Oelze for a layup to make it 39-33. With 4:06 left, Northeast squelched any comeback hopes for South Nodaway as Schmitz got the ball inside and put a perfect fake on Wolf and drew her fifth foul; Schmitz made one out of her two free throws to make it 40-33.
At that point, it was practically over as Northeast was able to take huge chunks of time off the clock. Blair Schmitz added three more free throws down the stretch before the Longhorns hit a meanless free throw with 27 seconds left to round out the scoring. The scoring was completely balanced for Northeast -- Jacqueline Schulte, Michelle Schulte and Blair Schmitz all had 10 points while Hallie Oelze had 9.
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