Bluejay Girls Cruise Past North Andrew in Semifinals

Northeast Nodaway's girls responded to adversity well and cruised past North Andrew 43-32 to advance to the final round of the King City Tournament. "We kept North Andrew from getting any of their players into double figures," said Coach Eric Fairchild. "Anytime you can hold a team to 32 points, we're doing pretty well. I was proud of how well we kept our composure when they cut it to 9 in the third quarter."

The two teams had just met six days earlier; in the second game, North Andrew sought to be more physical than the first time and to press Northeast more. But Northeast responded well to that challenge. They got early buckets from Blair Schmitz as Rachel Runde threw her a long pass and Emily Bryant threw Kristin Sherry a backdoor pass, but Blair Schmitz picked up her second foul less than three minutes into the game with her team down 5-4. And with Kristan Judd picking up her second foul, that left Northeast with a really small lineup. But Northeast did not allow another point in the period and Kristin Sherry scored a driving layup and a free throw and took a charge on defense as Northeast led 7-5 after one quarter.

Blair Schmitz came back in and hit a pair of free throws and then Kristin Sherry scored from inside off a pass from Emily Bryant to make it 11-5. The lead stayed between six and eight until Kristin Sherry hit a free throw and later got a steal off the press which she converted into a 3-point play. Emily Bryant hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 20-9 with 2:52 left. Northeast continued to pull away as Michelle Schulte scored off a Rachel Runde steal and a pass from Kristin Sherry to make it 24-11 with 1:53 left. Kristin Sherry's putback at the buzzer left Northeast up 26-12 at the break.

Blair Schmitz picked up her third foul at the start of the third and North Andrew started doing a better job of pushing it up and down the floor, cutting the lead down to 28-19 midway through the third quarter. But then Northeast got a stop on defense and Blair threw a quick outlet to Kristin Sherry who threw it to Emily Bryant for a layup to start a 9-0 run that closed out the third quarter. Big Bad Blair added a putback and then Rachel Runde found Emily Bryant for a 3-pointer from the left wing and Bryant followed with a drive that turned into two free throws to leave Northeast up 37-19 after three quarters.

North Andrew tried to extend its pressure to get the ball back, but Blair Schmitz threw it to a cutting Emily Bryant for a backdoor layup to give Northeast its largest lead of the night at 39-21. Blair drove and scored a rare right-handed shot and Michelle Schulte scored off a carom before Coach Fairchild turned things over to his freshmen.