Bluejay Girls Explode for 23 Points in Third vs. Rockets

Northeast Nodaway's girls used a 23-point third quarter to pull away from West Nodaway and beat them 54-25 Monday night in a makeup game. Northeast continued their trend of getting balanced scoring from everyone; this time, they had five different Bluejays score seven points or more in the win. For Northeast, they needed to keep their momentum going after they broke their losing streak against DeKalb; they had to find a way to overcome West Nodaway's twin six footers.

Neither team could draw blood against the other until the 4:40 mark of the first quarter when Northeast finally found an opening against West Nodaway's sagging man to man as Kristin Sherry hit Rachel Runde for a backdoor layup. The game was being played at a glacial pace but Northeast raised their lead to 8-3 as Emily Bryant hit Blair Schmitz on the right side and then Blair went coast to coast with 1:29 left on another play. Kristin Sherry kicked it out to Kristan Judd at the top of the key to make it 12-5 early in the second. Northeast was able to get on the line in the second as free throws from Michelle Schulte and Kristin Sherry kept the margin between 5 and 7. But West Nodaway closed to within four at the break at 19-15 as Blair Schmitz picked up her second foul and sat out.

Northeast was not doing badly defensively seeing that they had held the Rockets to 15 points, but they needed to start playing the game at their pace and not West Nodaway's slower pace. They only had two fast break points in the first half and they needed to force more turnovers on defense. West Nodaway closed to within three at 20-17 and had a chance to tie with a 3, but Emily Bryant got a steal with 6:28 left. Kristin Sherry scored an inside shot off a pass from Michelle Schulte and Blair Schmitz hit Rachel Runde off a back door cut to give Northeast its biggest lead of the game at 26-17 as the Bluejays did a much better job of dictating the pace in the second half.

Northeast continued to pull away as Michelle Schulte scored off a steal as she converted it to two free throws and Rachel Runde stripped a West Nodaway player who had just gotten a defensive board and got a layup. Blair Schmitz scored off a Kristin Sherry steal to make it 33-17 as Northeast had 13 straight points. Sherry led the team with six steals for the evening.

Claire Young tried to rally the Rockets with a fast break bucket, but Emily Bryant hit Kristan Judd on the right baseline and then Michelle Schulte hit Bryant on the top of the key. Young hit again for West Nodaway, but Blair Schmitz hit Bryant on a backdoor cut and the tiny but deadly Schulte girl outjumped the Rocket six-footers to get a putback to make it 42-21 after three quarters.

Northeast scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter. Emily Bryant scored on yet another backdoor layup, Michelle Schulte struck again as consecutive steals on the press led to a layup from Bryant and a free throw from Schulte. Kristan Judd hit Rachel Runde on the right side, Kristin Sherry hit two free throws, and Blair Schmitz hit Rachel Runde backdoor in the quarter before Coach Eric Fairchild turned things over to his subs.