Worth County’s girls put up their highest point total of the year against Nodaway-Holt but still fell to the Trojans 61-52 Monday night. Nodaway-Holt looked like they would be able to score at will against Worth County as they are one of the highest scoring teams in the area behind the play of Megan Rosenbohm. Despite playing with the flu, Rosenbohm grabbed the initial tip and scored in the first few seconds of the game and then kept right on going from there, getting a fast break and a steal for six points in the first three minutes of the game. Jodi Holmes added a putback and Nodaway-Holt was up 10-4 with 4:23 left. For a team that was used to playing low scoring games, that was like a punch in the gut.
Worth County fought back as Lauren Null pushed it up the floor and got it to Liz Novak and then Novak found Brooke Gilland all alone on the weak side for an easy basket to make it 12-8. But as Worth County was using a box and one to try and slow down Rosenbohm, Holmes slipped right into the middle and nobody was there to guard her as her layup made it 12-8. Brooke Gilland then picked up her second foul of the game trying to stop a Rosenbohm layup and had to sit out the rest of the quarter. To show the kind of impact that Gilland has on the game, the Tigers outscored Nodaway-Holt by three when she was on the floor even though she was not one of the leading scorers. When she was on the bench with foul trouble, Nodaway-Holt outscored Worth County 18-6.
With Gilland on the bench, Worth County had no answer for Rosenbohm, who ran over defenders and got behind the defense at will as she ran up her point total to 14 in the period as Nodaway-Holt led by as much as 20-8. Finally, Kacey Smyser cleaned up on a miss and then scored another inside shot in the last 22 seconds before Krysta Beattie scored from inside with 3 seconds left to make it 22-12.
Gilland came back in, but nothing worked at first as Holmes got behind the Tiger defense for a layup and then Beattie added a steal and an inside shot as Nodaway-Holt pushed the lead up to 28-14. But then Gilland pushed it up the floor and found Liz Novak open and then Lauren Null found Novak on the baseline to make it 28-18 with 3:27.
But then things went downhill for the rest of the half as the Tigers left Nodaway-Holt’s best 3-point shooter, Kalli DeVers, open and she hit one from the top of the key. Gilland then picked up her third foul trying to stop a Rosenbohm layup and she converted the three point play. Holmes added a 3-pointer and Nodaway-Holt was up 37-18 at the break.
For Worth County to get back in the game, they had to keep Gilland in the game, do a better job of attacking the basket, and do a better job getting back on defense. The Tigers did not attempt a single free throw in the first half, settling for too many jump shots which created Nodaway-Holt’s layup opportunities; the Trojans committed only two fouls in the half. They also had to do a better job of getting back on defense as the Trojans were getting good transition looks even with Rosenbohm on the bench. They succeeded in all three areas in the second half.
Worth County started off the second half by moving Lauren Null, normally a guard, into the post and getting the ball in to her off the cut; that move paid immediate dividends as she got four points in the first few minutes of the third off passes from Gilland. Kacey Smyser added a free throw and Brooke Gilland added a putback as Worth County cut the lead to 39-25.
Rosenbohm’s two free throws got Nodaway-Holt back on track and they started scoring at will again aided by another breakaway from Rosenbohm and a 3-pointer from Holmes as they took their biggest lead of the night at 50-27 with 1:57 left.
But the start of the fourth quarter, with Worth County down 51-29, brought a totally different story. Brooke Gilland did all she could to bring her team back into the game as she took two charges on defense and got three steals and five for the game. She opened the scoring with a free throw and then added a steal and drive right off the bat. Lauren Null scored from inside again and then following a free throw from Brittany Shipps, Liz Novak crashed for an offensive glass and turned it into two free throws; that play seemed to get her going. Kiley Reynolds then hit from the left wing off a pass from Lauren Null and then following a steal by Brooke Gilland in the paint, Kiley Reynolds found Liz Novak in the corner for a 3-pointer with 4:31 to make it 52-41. Novak celebrated her 15th birthday that night by scoring 11 points and three 3-pointers in the period and 17 for the night.
With Worth County pressing and trying to get the ball back, Krysta Beattie got behind the defense and got a layup but Kiley Reynolds hit Liz again in the corner to make it 54-44. Beattie hit a pair of free throws, but then Brooke Gilland took a charge on defense to set up a Claire Andrews basket after Kiley Reynolds stripped the ball on a rebounding situation to make it 56-46 with 3:19 left.
Rosenbohm got behind the defense once again for a pair of free throws and Amanda O’Riley also got behind the defense to make it 60-46 with 2:42 left, but Worth County game right back as Brooke Gilland found Novak in the corner for a 3-pointer. Brooke Gilland took a charge on Rosenbohm and Kacey Smyser got a putback to get it under double digits at 60-51 with 1:47 left. The Tiger press was working as Nodaway-Holt was chucking up quick shots rather than get into their offense and run out the clock for the win. Nodaway-Holt finally took some time off and ran it down to 1:10, but Rosenbohm lost the ball out of bounds and Jessica Garrett hit a free throw to make it 60-52 with 55.9 left. Garrett missed the second, but the ball went out of bounds off Nodaway-Holt and Worth County had a chance to make it 5 or 6. But Kacey Smyser missed an inside shot and Nodaway-Holt took 10 seconds off the clock. Kiley Reynolds then stole a pass intended for Rosenbohm, but Brooke Gilland’s off balance shot from the right wing was off and Nodaway-Holt finally ran out the clock for the win.
Worth County also lost to King City 25-14 to fall to 1-1 in the conference Friday. The Tigers struggled on defense against Nodaway-Holt for the first three quarters and struggled offensively against King City in the loss. Worth County was missing everything on offense in the first quarter while King City was trying to attack the short corner of Worth County’s zone but was throwing it away. Nobody could muster a field goal until the last two minutes of the first quarter when Emma Hill beat everyone down the floor after Worth County had missed two close shots to make it 4-1 King City. Claire Andrews was one of the few bright spots offensively for Worth County as she had seven of Worth County’s 14 points; she hit a tough shot at the buzzer to make it 4-3.
The stingy defense continued for Worth County in the second quarter as they were doing a good job denying ball reversal and forcing King City out of their offense. But it didn’t translate onto the other end and Coach April Healy was going down the bench trying to find someone who could score and break the Tigers out of their funk. The only player to get going offensively for Worth County was Brooke Gilland, who scored off a backdoor cut and pass from Lauren Null as well as a fast break when Liz Novak pushed it up the floor and got it to her. The latter basket made it 7-6 Worth County, but a pair of momentum-sapping plays hurt them in the last 43 seconds of the half as Brooke Gilland picked up her second foul and Cheyanne Stoll hit two free throws and then King City put on a press and jumped a pass for an easy layup to make it 10-7 at the half. That series of plays was similar to the South Nodaway game where Brooke Wolf’s off-balance 15 footer that gave South Nodaway the lead sapped the momentum from Worth County.
The third quarter was the backbreaker for Worth County as they did too much hacking and fouling in the period and Brooke Gilland, Jessica Garrett, and Lauren Null all sat down with three fouls and King City built up a 20-9 lead after three quarters.
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