Worth County's girls are still searching for stability following the first week of the season, in which they went 1-2 in the Albany Tournament. They lost 69-34 to Princeton, turned around and beat archrival Albany 46-37, and then fell 33-32 to Stanberry as they were denied consolation. The girls started off without Kaitlyn Davidson (concussion) and Claire Andrews (strained meniscus) for the first two games, but got them back for the Stanberry game. The return of those two changes the chemistry of the team; the focus for the team this week will be to get a stable lineup on the floor and get everyone on the same page.
The shorthanded Tigers struggled on the floor against the Princeton press, throwing wild passes against the press and not recognizing the traps that they were running against them. They turned the ball over 44 times in the loss as the game turned into a layup drill for Princeton early. Defensively, Princeton had a pair of 3-point shooters that Worth County left open too many times. Kacey Smyser was a bright spot for the Tigers in the loss, getting 22 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs. Haven Schottel had 9. Sydney Thummel followed with three. Kristen Andrews had 8 boards and Rebecca Moore had 7.
Against Albany, the focus of the game was to keep Morgan Combs off the boards as well as dictate the tempo of the game by speeding it up, something that Northeast Nodaway was unable to do in their loss. The game started out as a slopfest, with four fouls on each side being called by the 3:25 mark of the first quarter. Worth County got some good looks early, but they were missing. Albany brought Shelby Fish, a freshman, off the bench and she was jumping passes and creating havoc on defense while Worth County was having trouble keeping Combs off the boards.
But after Combs picked up her third foul with 3:24 left in the first half, Worth County erased a 17-11 deficit to tie it at 19. Worth County did a better job of taking care of the ball and Sidney Thummel popped an outside shot for the first time in her career for the tying shot.
Both sides changed defenses coming out of the lockerroom with Worth County seeking to speed the tempo up and run Albany out of the gym while Albany switched from their zone to their man to man. The team that would adjust to the changes first would take control and Worth County did so as Kacey Smyser got a putback and then Haven Schottel worked a give and go with Kristen Andrews to put Worth County up 23-19. Albany was getting traveling violations trying to dribble against the press and burned a timeout to try and stop the bleeding with 5:28 left in the third.
Worth County continued to pull away in the third as Kacey Smyser hit from the high post and Kristen Andrews and Rebecca Moore hit free throws Morgan Combs picked up her fourth foul during the stretch as Worth County's lead expanded to 28-20. But then Sydney Thummel picked up her third foul and Albany switched back to their 2-3 as Albany chipped away, cutting it in half at 28-24. But the Warriors could never make it a one-possession game, getting a traveling call and a bad pass as the third quarter was winding down. Finally, Rikki Hunt hit Kacey Smyser on the left side and then Haven Schottel got a steal and an off-balance shot over three defenders to make it 32-24.
Kaylie McGinley did all she could to get Albany back in during the fourth quarter, banking home a 3 and hitting another tough outside shot, but Haven Schottel scored a layup off a Kristen Andrews steal and drew a hard foul from Albany and Sidney Thummel scored off a backdoor layup. For some reason, Haven had a target on her back as the Albany players were constantly trying to get her out of the game with hard fouls and Haven was constantly bouncing right back up.
Worth County finally put the game out of reach as Kacey Smyser scored off an inbounds play, Rikki Hunt scored from the left wing, and Haven Schottel got knocked hard on her back while going in for a layup and hit both of her free throws to make it 43-31 with 1:53 left and Albany could not get it back under double digits again until the closing seconds.
Haven Schottel, Kacey Smyser, and Sidney Thummel each had 13 to lead the Tigers. Rebecca Moore added four and Kristen Andrews one.
But the Tigers could not hold a 15-point first half lead against Stanberry, falling 33-32. They did a really good job of drawing contact and getting to the line, shooting 25 for 38 from the free throw line. But they did not do well shooting from the field as they only connected three times from the field; teams are not likely to win very many games making only three shots in a game. Rebecca Moore of all people hit a 3-pointer after Stanberry had closed to within one at 21-20, but Stanberry scored the next nine points to make it 29-24 and take the lead. Finally, frustration set in for the Worth County players and one of them picked up a technical foul. But the officials did not make them miss all their shots from the field.
The Tigers whittled away at the lead, finally making it 33-32 with less than 10 seconds left. But they did not have any timeouts left and the clock keeps running after a made basket, unlike college ball, where the clock stops in the last two minutes of a game, meaning that Stanberry held the ball for three seconds and they were able to dribble out the clock.
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