Tiny but Deadly Schulte Girl Hangs 19 on Albany

Michelle Schulte hung 19 points on Albany and Northeast, after a slow first quarter, pulled away for a 48-15 win over the Warriors. Albany came out in a collapsing zone on Blair Schmitz and Northeast was struggling to solve the setup for the first quarter. But Albany could not take advantage on the other end as Northeast forced Albany out of their halfcourt sets, forcing the Albany coach to burn two timeouts in the first four minutes trying to get in sync. Taylor Dougan hit Michelle Schulte for a 3-pointer and Kristin Sherry hit two free throws off a putback before Taylor hit a 3-pointer that bounced high off the rim before falling through to make it 8-2 after one quarter.

Playing their last games as Bluejays were Taylor Dougan, Emily Bryant, Blair Schmitz, and Kristin Sherry. The four seniors saw Northeast win the conference title and finish the season ranked third in the state with a 28-2 record; they now have three straight seasons of winning 20 games or more. Taylor has developed into a deadly shoot first ask questions afterwards player; Blair Schmitz, despite her small size, has become one of the top post players in the area. Kristin Sherry has turned into a ferocious rebounder, deadly midrange shooter, and strong role player. Emily Bryant has been another gunslinger along with Taylor, able to light it up at any time.

Northeast finally warmed up as Michelle Schulte hit two free throws and then Blair Schmitz jumped a pass and hit two more to make it 12-2 with 6:44 left in the second. Thea Sagun hit a free throw as Albany closed to within 14-7 but the tiny but deadly Schulte girl turned things around with a 3-pointer after a long possession to make it 17-7 to break a four minute scoring lull for Northeast. Blair then hit two free throws and then later, Blair kicked it out on a fast break and got it to Kristin, who got it to Taylor on the baseline to make it 21-8 with 1:30 left. Blair then threw a long outlet to Emily Bryant for two free throws and then Blair jumped a pass on the press and got it to Kristin Sherry, who fed Blair for the layup to make it 25-8. The two teams traded free throws and Albany had the ball for the last shot, but Thea Sagun didn't see Michelle Schulte setting to take a charge and there was a major collision at the end of the half as Northeast held.

Michelle was shaken up on the play and sat out the first few minutes of the third quarter, but Blair Schmitz twice kicked it out to Rachel Runde on the left baseline and Rachel scored off a steal and Blair got a free throw off a putback. Albany could only manage a shot from the right wing from Maisie Yeager as Northeast led 33-11. Michelle Schulte convinced her coach she was all right and came back in and proved hit by hitting her third 3-pointer of the night from the right baseline with 38 seconds left. Then, she got a steal off the press and would not be denied, barreling her way in for a layup and 3-point play with 5 seconds left to make it 39-11. The tiny but deadly Schulte girl was not done as she hit her fourth 3-pointer of the night and then Blair got a steal and saved it from going out of bounds to Michelle for a pair of free throws to make it 44-11.

Taryn Farnan kicked it out to Holly Redden on the left wing and Kerrigan Adwell got a putback for the reserves in the last 1:11 for Northeast.