Bluejay Girls Have No Answer for Chelsea Merrigan's 26

Northeast Nodaway's girls had no answer for Chelsea Merrigan's 26 points as they lost 57-40 to Jefferson to fall out of first place in the Platte Valley Conference race. Kendle Schieber added 18 for the Eagles as their inside-outside game was too much for Northeast to overcome. Jefferson was able to use broken plays and steals all night to get their points and Northeast didn't have an answer.

The Bluejays had some early success on Jefferson as Blair Schmitz drove down the right wing for a basket and then Kristin Sherry got a pass in the post, fumbled it, but picked it back up and hit from the right wing to make it 4-2. Kendle Schieber got into the paint and Chelsea Merrigan scored off a steal to make it 6-4 before Kristin Sherry found Blair Schmitz on the left baseline to knot it at 6. Schieber's 3-pointer from the top of the key was answered by two free throws from Sherry to keep it at 9-8, but then Chelsea Merrigan jumped a pass and went in for a layup -- one of several times she did that against Northeast -- and then Monica Miller went back door to make it 13-8 after one.

Northeast trailed by as much as eight, 17-9 before Blair Schmitz kicked it out to Michelle Schulte for a 3-pointer. Chelsea Merrigan jumped yet another pass, but Michelle Schulte got a putback and then Kristin Sherry found Blair inside to make it 19-16 with 2:33 left. But then Jill Henry cherry-picked the defense successfully, Kendle Schieber got a pair of buckets, and Chelsea Merrigan got loose on the break at the buzzer to make it 27-16 at the break.

Northeast needed to limit Jefferson's transition opportunities and know where Merrigan was on the court at all times, but Merrigan had 10 points in the period. Northeast doubled their point output from the first half in the third period alone, but were consequently unable to get under double digits by the fourth quarter. Northeast looked sharper on offense as Kristin Sherry scored, Blair ran over Kendle Schieber for a bucket, and then scored off a fast break. Kendle got a free throw off the old throw-off-the-back trick where she threw it off a defender's back to herself on an inbounds play (a legal play) and added a bucket off one of several Merrigan jumped passes but Kristin Sherry cut inside, Rachel Runde hit one from the right side over Merrigan following a steal from Michelle Schulte, and then Blair dished to Emily Bryant in transition to make it 37-27 with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

The two teams traded blows for the rest of the period; consecutive scores from Merrigan were answered as Emily Bryant found Blair inside and Bryant knocked an offensive carom in the air to Kristin Sherry, who scored over Merrigan to make it 41-31 with 48.9 seconds. Chelsea Merrigan scored off a backdoor cut and then added a steal off the press and a layup but Sherry drove down the right side and scored again over Merrigan to make it 45-33 after three quarters.

Jefferson began melting down the clock in the fourth quarter while still scoring points as Shanna Welch's fast break capped a 6-2 run that gave Jefferson's biggest lead at that point at 51-35 with 4:39 left. Blair Schmitz hit from the left wing off an inbounds play and then Michelle pushed it up the floor to Kristin Sherry to make it 51-39 with 2:51 left, but then Northeast had to start fouling and Jefferson pulled away for the final score.

"We did a lot of good things that game," said Coach Eric Fairchild. "We're going to go back and look at this game and see what we can do to put ourselves in a better position to win next time."