People thought that Northeast might be down after having those big shoes to fill, yet with a new coach, they exceeded all expectations and went 23-5 this year, losing to Jefferson in the District finals 60-39. Along the way, they had some accomplishments of their own. They won the Northwest Missouri Tournament for the second time in a row and won at least 21 games for the third year in a row. They were much more of a gunslinging team than last year's edition as they were more than willing to shoot first and ask questions afterwards, getting seven 3-pointers in their opening round win over West Nodaway in the districts. They had two wins over Nodaway-Holt this year, containing standout freshman Meghan Rosenbohm as well as anyone in both games. "The loss to Jefferson last year stung them really hard and they worked really hard to get back to this point," said Coach Eric Fairchild after Northeast had beaten Stanberry 42-36 in the semifinal round to get to that point. "They wanted another chance at Jefferson."
The game threatened to snowball out of control as Chelsea Merrigan got nine points in the first period for Jefferson, but Michelle Schulte drew a foul on a running 3-pointer at the buzzer and hit all three shots to keep the game at 16-9. Once again Jefferson threatened to run away with it, leading by as much as 12 as Merrigan was continuing to jump passes at will before Emily Bryant hit two late 3-pointers to bring the deficit down to six. But Northeast could not buy a bucket in the second half and aided along by the referees, who were calling stuff on Northeast that they were not calling on Jefferson, the Eagles pulled away to an insurmountable 52-33 lead after three quarters and led by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter. Ashley Merrigan got the hot hand for Jefferson in that period, getting six points in that frame to go along with the usual production from Chelsea and Kendle Schieber.
The girls started the season off strongly with easy wins over Union Star and Osborn before facing their first two tests of the season in Tarkio and Stanberry. Pitted against Denise McEnaney, who will be playing at Northwest Missouri State next year, the Bluejays shut her down and overcame an early deficit to win by12. Leading scorer Blair Schmitz saw extensive time on the bench due to foul trouble against Stanberry due to foul trouble, but Northeast pulled away from Stanberry to win by 13 as they were able to utilize strong play from Kristan Judd off the bench to win -- they made their decisive run with Blair on the bench.
Seeded first in the Northwest Missouri Tournament, the Bluejays scored the first 26 points of the game in beating Worth County by 32 before running into West Nodaway. The Rockets hung with Northeast, who was struggling from the field. However, the Bluejays ground out the 10 point win. Pitted against Nodaway-Holt and Megan Rosenbohm, they had to shut down one of the most explosive offenses in the area. But it was Northeast who was doing all the scoring as Michelle Schulte shut down Megan Rosenbohm and Northeast won 65-42 to win the tournament -- their fourth tournament win in three years.
They got easy wins over Worth County, Stewartsville, and Ridgeway before running into Trenton. The high-powered Trenton squad, led by their 1000 point 1000 rebounder Rebekah Capeder, beat Northeast and handed them their first loss of the year by nine. Northeast struggled offensively the next game, falling to Cameron for the third place game by nine.
Northeast got back on track with a 13 point win over South Nodaway and then had to turn back a tough challenge as they beat North Andrew by 10 at their Courtwarming. But Michelle Schulte took over the game and Northeast overcame some early foul trouble from Blair Schmitz for the win. They beat Union Star by 34 in the opening round of the King City Tournament before they faced another tough challenge as they had to turn around and play North Andrew again. But they had an easier time and kept their composure against the Cardinals in an 11 point win.
Their most exciting game of the year was their tilt with Maysville for the King City Championship. The game was played at a frantic pace with both teams trying to speed the game up. Northeast led for much of the game but Maysville came back to catch them. Emily Bryant's 3-pointer with one minute left put Northeast up four again, but Maysville cut it to two and then took advantage of a missed one and one opportunity to hit a 3-pointer and take the lead. Michelle Schulte got a putback that apparently won the game, but it was waved off as Coach Fairchild had called timeout before she shot. Then, Michelle was fouled at the buzzer but missed both free throws at the end as Northeast lost by one, 55-54. The students roasted Fairchild for that at the Homecoming pep rally two weeks later, having a gypsy fortuneteller tell him to "Don't call timeout" if one of his players was shooting.
Northeast lost by 17 to Jefferson as they did not have an answer for Chelsea Merrigan or Kendle Schieber, but got back on track with a Homecoming win over DeKalb. They had a big third quarter in a 29-point win over West Nodaway and then got everyone involved in a 73-45 win over Elwood. Then, they played another epic match against CFX.
The Bluejays came out firing like Grinell College, shooting first and asking questions afterwards as they hit six 3-pointers in the first quarter in building up a big lead. But they got in foul trouble as Rebecca Geib and the CFX squad began chipping away at the lead. It looked like the bad memories of two years ago when CFX scored at will on Northeast were there to repeat themselves, but Northeast righted themselves and pulled away for the 14-point win in the fourth quarter. Northeast had another tough test as they had to figure out a way to shut down Rosenbohm and the Trojans without Michelle Schulte, who was sick. It looked like a long night as Nodaway-Holt put up 14 points in the first few minutes of the game. But Northeast came back from trailing by nine and got a big run to take the lead. Kristin Sherry had a career night of 22 points with Michelle Schulte out and Big Bad Blair added 18 as Rachel Runde did a lights-out job on Rosenbohm and the rest of the team was not able to pick up the slack in the six point win for Northeast.
With Blair Schmitz under the weather for the North Nodaway game and playing at 75% strength, Michelle Schulte talked her way into playing and backed it up with a 3-pointer right off the bat as Northeast ground out a 12 point win over the Mustangs. Michelle was just warming up as she took a charge in the closing seconds of the first half against Albany, sat out the first few minutes of the third from being shaken up, and came back to score 11 straight as she hung 18 on the Warriors during Senior Night. Against West Nodaway, she hung 21 on the Rockets as Northeast had little trouble disposing of the Rockets and then she got 18 more as Northeast beat Stanberry 42-36. In that game, Northeast tried to stall the game at the start of the fourth, which seemed to work for the first six minutes. However, Stanberry went on a scoring flurry to cut the gap to three; however, Schulte got a free throw with 33 seconds left to keep it a two possession game at 40-36. Stanberry traveled with the basketball trying to bring it up and Schulte hit two more with 17 seconds to seal the win.
Northeast will once again have some big shoes to fill as they lost four seniors who were instrumental in the success of the last three years. Taylor Dougan and Emily Bryant were able to light it up at any time, shooting first and asking questions afterwards. Bryant, who hit her first career 3-pointer last year at a critical moment in Northeast's win over Stanberry at King City, emerged as one of the top shooters this year, getting 18 against Tarkio. Kristin Sherry was a ferocious beast on the boards and got as many as 22 against Nodaway-Holt despite playing post for the first time all career. Blair Schmitz, a second team all-stater from last year, did nothing to hurt her chances this year, getting over 15 points per game. Despite being undersized, she more than made up for it by being the most physical player on the court along with a sweet left-hander that was really hard to stop. She was a constant threat to spin to the basket and finish with that left hand.
But they will still have some horses as their return Michelle Schulte, the tiny but deadly version of the Schulte family. Rachel Runde will join her in the backcourt; she had 18 points in the win over CFX simply from being in the right place at the right time; Runde hit her first career 3-pointer against CFX that night as well. Kristan Judd will step in at post, being one of the most physical players on the team; it will be twice the trouble when younger sister Bailey becomes a freshman next year as she brings a similar brand of ball and is taller. Taryn Farnan earned playing time at the post, scoring four against West Nodaway despite playing with a broken finger. The Bluejays will have a promising sophomore class next year; the older girls were constantly roasting the freshmen and the freshmen were constantly pushing the older girls in practice, leading to some real intense battles. That will pay off for them down the road. Other members of next year's sophomore class will be Claudia Wiederholt, Sarah Bliley, Kerrigan Adwell, and Holly Redden. Brianna Riley showed some promise as a guard in junior high last year; she has the ability to jump passes and will play hard as a freshman next year.
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