Tiger Girls Show Improvement, Still Fall to NEN

Worth County's girls showed some improvement against Northeast from the first meeting but still fell to them 55-24 last Tuesday night. The Tiger defense was much stingier to start out with; Northeast did not get their first field goal until the 3:20 mark. But then Northeast began attacking the basket at will and getting on the line, resulting in nine free throws in the first quarter alone and 14 for the first half. "Take away their free throws and it's a five point game," said Tiger coach April Healy. "Northeast just kept pounding the ball inside on us and we were waiting too late to make a play on the ball once they got it into the post." Offensively, the Tigers were able to break Northeast's vaunted pressure better than last time thanks to the steady ballhanding of Liz Novak, who came off the bench and dribbled it up the court against Michelle Schulte. "The problem was we forced too many passes in halfcourt," said Healy. "Our pace was as good as it has been all year and we showed a lot of good patience, but we were still forcing it in too much."

Northeast only managed free throws from Emily Bryant and Blair Schmitz in the early going and then Brooke Gilland went backdoor and Kiley Reynolds banked home a shot from the high post to put Worth County up 4-3 with 3:37 left in the first quarter. Northeast was having all the trouble in the world getting shots to fall, but then Big Bad Blair started attacking the basket and going to the line as she drove on two defenders and drew Kiley Reynolds' third foul and converted the 3-point play. Despite Worth County's triangle and two on Blair and Michelle, those two did most of the scoring during the next stretch.

Michelle Schulte got two free throws off a drive to make it 8-4. Brooke Gilland hit a free throw to make it 8-5, but then Rachel Runde inbounded it to Blair to make it 10-4 and then Blair drew Kacey Smyser's second foul and hit two free throws. Michelle Schulte became the first Bluejay besides Schmitz to score from the field as she worked a perfect give and go with Kristin Sherry and drew the foul. Rachel Runde then got a steal off the press and Kristin Sherry turned it into free throws; the tiny but deadly Schulte girl got a steal off the press and scored and then Emily Bryant hit Kristan Judd in the post to make it 21-5 after one quarter.

Northeast went cold from the field again as Kacey Smyser heated up for Worth County, scoring off an inside shot, a free throw, and a putback to make it 21-10 with 4:42 and prompting a timeout. But then Big Bad Blair got open inside and hit two free throws and then Kristan Judd hit a cutting Michelle Schulte for the layup. Kristin Sherry hit Taylor Dougan for a 3-pointer from the left side and then the tiny but deadly Schulte girl went coast to coast to put Northeast up 30-10 with 1:36 left.

Northeast continued to follow their pattern of starting off the quarter slowly and finishing strongly. Brooke Gilland got a steal and drive to make it 31-14 with 5:43 left but then Kristin Sherry worked a perfect high-low with Blair Schmitz for a 3-point play as Jessica Garrett picked up her fourth foul. Big Bad Blair then made another signature play as rather than settling for an open 12-footer, she ran over some defenders and drew Kiley Reynolds' fourth foul and hit one out of two. Northeast then worked a perfect fast break on the next play as Blair got a defensive board and threw it to Michelle, who threw to Emily, whose pass to Rachel Runde was good for a layup. Liz Novak got a monster stuff of Michelle Schulte on a 3-point attempt, but Emily Bryant found Blair Schmitz inside to make it 39-14 with 2:42 left.

Katie Mullock made the highlight play of the night for Worth County as she hit an NBA 3-pointer with a defender in her face to make it 39-17, but Northeast was off to the races again as Blair Schmitz found Kristin Sherry open on the left baseline and then hit a cutting Michelle Schulte who turned it into two free throws. Blair then got a defensive board and threw a long outlet to Emily Bryant, who threw to Rachel Runde for the layup. Blair then slapped a ball loose during a scramble to Kristan Judd for a layup and then Kristin Sherry muscled her way in at the buzzer after getting a pass from Emily Bryant to make it 49-17 after three.

Kristan Judd got a putback and then Taylor Dougan and Emily Bryant scored off drives into the paint to make it 55-17 before Coach Eric Fairchild cleared his bench. Kristin Andrews scored from inside, Liz Novak went coast to coast and banked it home, Katie Mullock scored from the left side, and Novak hit a free throw against Northeast's second string.