Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Four Hit Double Figures on Senior Night for NEN Girls

Northeast Nodaway's girls used a balanced scoring attack with four players hitting double figures to down North Nodaway 59-23 on Senior Night last Tuesday. "We started off slowly, but once we got going, we did well," said Coach Ryan Davis. "We were a little overaggressive on defense at times, but other than that, we did well on defense." Most coaches worry about their teams playing too tentatively, so if overaggression is all that Coach Davis has to complain about, then the Bluejay girls are in good shape for districts.

Northeast started off slowly as Morgan Wood opened the scoring with a shot from the left wing for North Nodaway and the Bluejays didn't get on the board for almost two minutes. But then their outside shots started falling, and that opened everything else up. Hallie Oelze (12 points) opened the scoring with a 3-pointer at the 6:13 mark and then Jacquline Schulte's (14 points, 5 assists) 3-pointer off an inbounds play off a feed from Michelle put the Bluejays up for good at 6-3. Ali Ramsey scored from the left wing for the Mustangs, but then Kristin Sherry pushed it up the floor to Blair Schmitz (14 points) for a layup. Jacqueline Schulte then connected twice from the left wing to make it 12-5, which opened everyone else up for the rest of the game.

Wood got a putback for North Nodaway, but then got in foul trouble as Hallie Oelze hit a pair of free throws and then Blair Schmitz blew past two defenders and got two more as a reward. Emily Bryant then hit Michelle Schulte (11 points) at the top of the key for Northeast's third 3-pointer of the period and then Kristin Sherry got a steal off the press, fed Blair Schmitz, who hit Hallie Oelze for a layup at the buzzer to make it 21-7.

Jessica Redden made one of those plays that doesn't show up in the stat chart, but had a big effect on the game as she cut hard to the ball on a pass inside and drew Morgan Wood's third foul as a result. Consequently, North Nodaway could not get any kind of offense going as their whole game plan revolved around getting the ball into Wood at the high post. Also, Wood, who had four points in the first period, didn't score the rest of the game as she saw extended time on the bench with her foul trouble.

Michelle Schulte opened the scoring in the second period with a steal and drive and scored again as Blair Schmitz got a steal and got her the ball. Following a Mustang miss Jacqueline Schulte got a steal and threw a quick outlet to Blair Schmitz, who went coast to coast for another score to complete a 16-0 run that left Northeast in control at 28-7. Nikki Larabee ended the run with a pair of free throws, but then Jacquline Schulte got a free throw after a drive, rejected a shot by a taller player on the other end, and then found Taylor Dougan open on the left wing. Blair Schmitz added a free throw and then Jacqueline got a steal and reversed it to Kenzie Waldeier for another free throw that left it 33-9.

Both Jacqueline Schulte and Blair Schmitz came out for a break and North Nodaway got two free throws and a steal from Larabee to cut it to 33-13 at the 2:37 mark, but they came back in to start another 16-0 run for Northeast. Jacqueline got a steal and fed Michelle for a layup, then followed with a steal and drive of her own. Blair Schmitz then got the ball in the post, faked to the right, and then went hard to the left for a layup in the post; Schmitz added a steal to give Northeast a 40-13 lead at the break.

The run continued to start the second half as Jacqueline Schulte found Hallie Oelze open on the left wing for Hallie's second 3-pointer of the game and was rewarded for sharing the ball as she got a feed from Hallie on the left wing for an open jumper in transition on the next play. Schulte then got a drive against Wood and got on the line for two free throws; Kristin Sherry added a steal and drive to complete the run with Northeast up 49-13. Ali Ramsey got a putback with 2:51 left to cut it to 51-18, but then Kristin Sherry found Blair Schmitz open in the post for a 3-point play and Taylor Dougan found Hallie Oelze inside. Hallie Oelze then kicked one out from the post to Rachel Runde on the left baseline to make it 58-18 and Kristan Judd got a rejection on the defensive end before the running clock took over in the fourth.

Student manager Lauren Buholt along with ten basketball players were recognized in ceremonies before the game along with their parents. Playing in their last regular season home game were Hallie Oelze, Kenzie Waldeier, Jacqueline Schulte, Jessica Redden, James Burns, Tyler Davis, Chad Messner, Tanner Scroggie, Brad Stoll, and Bobby Welch.

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