Northeast Nodaway Girls Pull Away in 4th vs. Stanberry

Northeast Nodaway's girls won a brutal, physical contest against Stanberry as they pulled away in the 4th quarter to beat the Bulldogs 50-37. Northeast won despite only getting four points from Blair Schmitz. They were able to win by playing at their pace and speeding the game up; when Stanberry was able to slow the game down to a crawl, they were more effective. Michelle Schulte played her best game this year, leading the scoring with 16 points and adding seven steals and five assists. Kristin Sherry added 13, 10 of them in the fourth quarter. Kristan Judd played her best game yet as a Bluejay, getting seven points and spelling valuable minutes for Blair while she was out. Blair Schmitz got the wind knocked out of her in the first quarter sat out for several minutes and then later got into foul trouble, picking up her fourth in the third period. But Blair still found a lot of ways to be useful on the court, getting three blocks and four steals, five assists, and five boards.

Northeast started off well as Michelle Schulte scored off an Emily Bryant steal and then Kristin Sherry got a defensive board and then threw a long outlet to Emily Bryant that made it 4-0. Kaitlyn Mercer converted a 3-point play for Stanberry after a putback, but then Michelle Schulte found Rachel Runde, who drove down the right baseline for a layup against the two Stanberry six-footers despite being only 5'5" and then Emily tipped a pass to Kristin Sherry, who fed Bryant for a long pass for a layup to make it 8-3. After Stephanie Luke connected from the right wing to make it 8-5, Blair got the wind knocked out of her in a collision and had to come out.

The score was stuck at 8-5 going into the second quarter and Rachel Runde picked up her second foul, forcing Northeast to go to the bench with Taylor Dougan and Kristan Judd. But those two stepped up. With the score 10-7, Blair Schmitz threw a perfect skip to Taylor, whose foot was on the line. However, Northeast got a break as the official didn't see it and her 3-pointer from the right wing made it 13-7. Kristin Sherry then stripped a Stanberry player and Michelle Schulte pushed it up the floor to Kristan Judd for a layup. "Once she got that first shot to drop, Kristan's confidence went way up," said coach Eric Fairchild. "I was really happy to see that." Developing Judd into a force has been one of Fairchild's main projects since taking over the helm at Northeast. Michelle got a pair of steals and converted them into a layup and a free throw to make it 18-7 with 4:04 left.

But Stanberry finally starting making use of their height as Kelsey Stuart hit from the high post, Kaitlyn Mercer scored inside, and Stuart scored off a fast break to make it 18-13. Blair Schmitz, back into the game, scored off a fast break pass from Rachel Runde before Karissa Parrish hit from the left wing to make it 20-15 at the break.

The game slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, which was good for Stanberry, which chipped away at the lead. Allison Luke and Stuart each hit four points as the Bulldogs got to within 24-23 at the 3:30 mark of the 3rd quarter. But then Northeast started going to the basket, recognizing that both Stuart and Mercer had three fouls and Blair Schmitz drew Stuart's fourth foul and set her to the bench. And then, as she has done so often during her three years at Northeast, the tiny but deadly Schulte girl turned the game around, this time crashing the boards against Mercer and grabbing the offensive glass and converting it into two free throws. Blair Schmitz picked up her fourth foul, but Northeast didn't miss a beat as Kristin Sherry got a steal and ran over a defender and drew a foul, knocking down two free throws. Emily Bryant then got a steal and threw it to Michelle for a layup to give Northeast some breathing room at 30-23.

Stanberry closed to within 32-27 despite another Michelle Schulte putback, but then Rachel Runde found a posted Kristin Sherry and then on the next possession, Sherry made a beautiful backdoor cut and drew Mercer's fourth foul and knocked down both free throws. Kristan Judd hit from the high post and then following a leaping steal from Michelle Schulte, Runde found Sherry inside again to make it 40-27. Once again, like MIAA powerhouse Washburn, Northeast found the one huge run that would floor their opponent. All of this was done with Blair on the bench.

Karissa Parrish hit a pair of free throws, but then Kristin Sherry ran over a defender and got on the line once again and then Michelle Schulte got another steal. Mercer scored from inside, but then Kristin Sherry hit two more free throws and then Michelle Schulte got yet another steal and drive to put the game out of reach at 48-31.