Shorthanded Bluejay Girls Get Career Night from Kristin Sherry

Northeast Nodaway's girls were without Michelle Schulte (flu) but rallied as a team to beat Nodaway-Holt 58-52 Monday night. The Bluejays got the win thanks to a career night from Kristin Sherry (23 points, 9 for 10 from the line) and a strong outing from Blair Schmitz (18 points) as well as everyone else stepping up their game. Without Michelle, the Bluejays did not have an answer for Megan Rosenbohm at first, who scored nine of the first 14 Trojan points, all in the first 2:44, even though Northeast put a box and one on her. "That was my fault; I made a coaching mistake," said Coach Eric Fairchild. "The players responded well. We realized that we could play then straight up and that was when we got back on track." Rosenbohm grabbed the opening tip and got a layup in the first few seconds and then got a steal off the press and later got another bucket. She added a 3-pointer from the right side and then went coast to coast on a fast break.

Kristin Sherry did all she could to keep her team in the game, scoring the first eight Northeast points in the first 4:18, which meant that Northeast was still in the game even though they were down 14-8. Blair Schmitz found her open three times, twice inside and once on a backdoor layup; Kristin added a putback as well. Krysta Beattie got a putback, but then Rachel Runde scored from the right side and then Emily Bryant went to the rim and hitting two free throws to make it 16-12.

The bank was open for Beattie, who banked one home to make it 19-12. Amanda O'Riley then got the hot hand as she scored from the high post and then got a steal to make it 23-14 with 5:38 left in the second. But then Kristan Judd, who seems to have a knack for scoring key buckets, did so again as she got a putback to break the run. O'Riley answered with a drive, but then Blair Schmitz, who had went scoreless up to that point, hit a 3-pointer and Kristin Sherry converted an offensive board into a free throw to make it 25-20 and the lead stayed between 5 and 7 for the rest of the half.

Beattie's free throw made it an eight point game at 33-25 to start the third quarter, but then Nodaway-Holt went on a four-minute scoring drought as the big run finally came for Northeast, who would score the next 13 points to take the lead for good. Kristin Sherry found Rachel Runde open on the left side, Blair kicked it out to Taylor Dougan for a 3-pointer, and then Blair found Kristin Sherry open on a fast break and Sherry turned it into free throws to make it 33-32. Taylor Dougan then hit Blair for a drive and Blair leaned over a defender and scooped it home to give Northeast its first lead of the night. Rachel Runde made a dangerous pass but somehow, Kristin Sherry came up with it and turned it into two more free throws. Kristin returned the favor as she saved a ball from going out of bounds to Runde for a layup to put Northeast up 38-33.

Rosenbohm finally broke the run with a fast break and then free throws by Beattie made it 40-37. Jodi Holmes then hit an outside shot from the top of the key that could have tied it, but Northeast got a break as the official ruled it a two-pointer and Northeast was still ahead by one. Blair then finally got untracked as Northeast was able to answer an offensive flurry from Nodaway-Holt. Rachel Runde found her at the top of the key and then Kristin Sherry found her for a driving layup to make it 44-39 at the third quarter buzzer. A pair of drives from Blair kept the margin from 3 to 5 points; the Trojans had several chances to tie or cut it to one with four minutes left but could not connect.

Nodaway-Holt switched from their usual zone to a man press, but Rachel Runde found Kristin Sherry inside and then Kristin found Blair open on a high-low to make it 52-45 with 2:44 left. Rosenbohm scored off a drive, Kristin Sherry missed a contested shot inside, and then Rosenbohm got a fast break and drew the foul and got on the line with a chance to cut it to three. She made the first but missed the second free throw, keeping it a two possession game. Kristin Sherry got the ball inside and then hit two free throws to make it 54-48 and following a stop, Northeast ran the clock all the way down to 1:15. Rosenbohm got a steal, but Jodi Holmes missed a close shot and Northeast ran some more clock until finally, Rosenbohm got another steal and a layup to make it 54-50 with 38 seconds left. But Emily Bryant got the ball and drove against two different defenders against the press right up the middle and Nodaway-Holt had to foul her; she made both free throws with 33.1 seconds.

Holmes missed a 3-pointer that would have cut it to one, but Bryant missed a front end of a 1-1. However, Rosenbohm missed another 3-pointer and Kristin Sherry hit two free throws to put Northeast up 58-50 with six seconds left and ice the game.