Bluejay Girls run away from Trojans; get NWMO title

Northeast Nodaway's girls used a career night from Blair Schmitz (25 points) and a strong effort from Michelle Schulte (19 points) to run away from Nodaway-Holt and claim their second straight Northwest Missouri Tournament Title with a 65-42 win over the improved Trojan squad. Nodaway-Holt had gone winless in their last two seasons, but featured freshman guard Megan Rosenbaum, who could seemingly break down defenses at will. The question was how good the Trojans were -- they dropped a pair of games early in the season, but they caught fire and blew out second seeded South Nodaway 52-27 to open the tournament. Then, they beat CFX 50-49 when Rosenbaum hit two free throws with 1.6 seconds left to win it.

The worrisome thing about the matchup was the fact that the Trojans had beaten West Nodaway 57-50 earlier in the year -- Northeast had only beaten the Rockets by 10. And Nodaway-Holt had crushed Northeast in summer ball -- without Blair Schmitz, Kristin Sherry, or Rachel Runde. But on the other hand, Northeast has been one of the best in the business at getting to the line while Nodaway-Holt had shown a disturbing propensity to hack and foul at will. Nodaway-Holt cut down some on their fouls Friday night, but not enough to stop the Bluejays; Northeast was 14 for 16 from the line.

Northeast had missed a ton in the game against West Nodaway, but all of a sudden, Michelle Schulte's 3-pointer from Rachel Runde with 5:50 left meant that everything would be falling against the Trojans. Emily Bryant found Blair Schmitz inside as Big Bad Blair was able to post at will all night long. On the next play, Kristin Sherry made the play of the game as Megan Rosenbaum drove past Michelle Schulte, only to have Sherry take a charge. That play seemed to affect Rosenbaum the entire game as she didn't score at all in the half court until late in the game -- all of her points the entire game were either off steals or free throws. Previously in the summer, whenever Rosenbaum would get past Schulte, there would not be any defensive help meaning Rosenbaum was able to score at will. On the next defensive play, Blair Schmitz made a diving steal, somehow rolled it to Rachel Runde, who fed it to Emily Bryant, who fed it to Schulte for a layup to make it 9-2.

With Northeast ganging up on Rosenbaum, Nodaway-Holt isolated Jodie Holmes with some success as she converted a 3-point play and drew Kristin Sherry's second foul, banked home a 3-pointer, and scored off a backdoor layup to make it 15-12 with 1:12 left in the first quarter. But then Big Bad Blair drew Rosenbaum's second foul and hit a pair of free throws to make it 17-12 after one.

Nodaway-Holt tried to match Northeast's pace, keeping the deficit at 19-16 after Krysta Beattie scored after Rosenbaum pushed it, but then Big Bad Blair struck as Michelle Schulte fed her for a 3-pointer and then Rachel Runde threw her a quick outlet following a stop and she converted it to free throws to make it 24-16. Darcy Brown scored on a fast break to make it 24-18, but then Blair Schmitz skipped it to Michelle Schulte, who hit both free throws. Rachel Runde then threw it to Big Bad Blair, who drew Holmes' second foul and converted a 3-point play; Michelle hit Emily Bryant for a 3-pointer and then Rosenbaum had a rare miss of a layup and the tiny but deadly Schulte girl was there for the defensive glass and drew the foul and hit two more free throws to make it 34-18.

Amanda O'Riley hit a free throw and Rosenbaum got a steal and drive to cut it to 34-21 at the break, but Nodaway-Holt's attempt to press and get back in the game backfired when Kristin Sherry got the ball to Big Bad Blair in the middle of the court and Schmitz burned the press for a 3-point play. Michelle Schulte then cleaned up on a Kristin Sherry miss and then the tiny but deadly Schulte girl made Nodaway-Holt pay for stepping on the inbounds line when Northeast was only applying token pressure as she buried a 3-pointer after Blair kicked it out to her to give Northeast a 42-21 lead.

It was only a matter of time before Nodaway-Holt made their run and they did as Krysta Beattie got the hot hand, hitting a pair of free throws and scoring from the left side. Megan Rosenbaum added a steal to make it 44-27, but then Rachel Runde found Blair Schmitz inside, Kristin Sherry drove to the basket after Runde fed her a perfect high-low, Runde found Kristan Judd inside, and Big Bad Blair scored from the high post with 12.6 seconds left as Northeast finished on a 8-1 run to make it 52-27. It was one of those nights for Rosenbaum, who tried to drive the lane for the last shot of the quarter, but Kristan Judd tied her up at the buzzer.

Rosenbaum did all she could in the fourth quarter to bring her team back, getting consecutive steals to make it 55-34 with 5:39 left. But then Big Bad Blair slipped in behind the defense and got a pass from Rachel Runde, Blair kicked it out to Bryant for her second 3-pointer of the night from the right wing, Kristin Sherry got a drive and pullup jumper in the paint, and Blair got two free throws and Michelle Schulte one to give Northeast its biggest lead of the night at 65-38.