Monday, December 14, 2015

Mustangs Drop Two to Trojans

Both Mustang teams played games against Nodaway-Holt which came down to the wire, and both teams came up short Friday night in 275 Conference action as the girls lost 55-51 in overtime and the boys lost 48-42. The scores reflected a topsy-turvy week of strange scored; for instance, Tarkio’s boys beat Jaden Gillenwater and the Mound City Panthers after having been a doormat team last year.

The girls dug themselves into a 17-6 hole as Madison Thompson picked up two quick fouls, North Nodaway could not break Nodaway-Holt’s full court pressure, and the game threatened to turn into a layup drill. But then North Nodaway finally began to find an offensive rhythm in the second quarter and stopped the bleeding, getting as close as six at one point. Alisha Davison had four in the period as five different Mustangs scored in the period.

They were down 27-18 at the break, but then Alisha Davison did all she could in the third quarter to get her team back into the game. She opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and Bethany Herndon got loose twice inside as North Nodaway got as close as three in the period. Nodaway-Holt went old school in the fourth as Josh Petersen went to the Four Corners, an offense that has not been used much within the last 50 years. But the Mustangs kept right on coming; Madison Thompson got loose twice inside and Bethany Herndon scored with 3:27 to tie it up. Breann O’Riley’s coast to coast runner with 1:35 left put North Nodaway ahead 46-44, but Madison Thompson fouled out going for a pass. North Nodaway got a stop, but O’Riley missed a 1 and 1 that would have made it two possessions and Frankie Lemar’s free throws on the other end tied it at 46. Lemar scored again after a stop to make it 48-46, but Davison’s runner tied it up again and sent it to overtime.

Nodaway-Holt scored the first four points of overtime, but North Nodaway battled back despite both Thompson girls being on the bench with five fouls and fought back to within one point at 52-51. They got the ball back for a possible go-ahead score, but Amanda Bohannon’s steal and layup made it 54-51 with 50 seconds left. Kelsi Oberhauser missed a 3-pointer and Macie Bohannon hit a free throw to seal it.

Alisha Davison had 17 to lead North Nodaway. Madison Thompson and Bethany Herndon had 9, Breann O’Riley had 6, Ashley Thompson and Kelsey Oberhauser had 4, and Kristin Herndon had 3.

The boys looked to repeat their performance in Mound City as they jumped out to an early lead of 13-8 against Nodaway-Holt. But Nodaway-Holt switched from a man to a zone to close off North Nodaway’s driving lanes and had their players shadowing sharpshooter Koby Reynolds all night. On the other end, they made a much more concerted effort to get the ball into Carey Volner, their post player. Consequently, they slowly took over and built up a lead of as much as 8 points in the third quarter. But a 3-pointer by Dakota Smyser followed by a steal from Peyton Coleman in the last 15 seconds made it a totally different ballgame as North Nodaway fought to within 32-29.

Jake Shipman’s troops continued to fight back in the fourth quarter, getting to within 42-40 on Coleman’s 3-pointer with 3:55 left and 43-42 on Ben Hart’s putback with 3:06 left. Both sides traded two stops, but a critical call went against North Nodaway as Ben Hart lowered his head and shoulders into Volner and got called for a charge with 1:06 left. Kaiden Vance then hit a free throw for Nodaway-Holt with 32 seconds left and the second shot missed; however, Zach Walker grabbed a putback to make it two possessions. Walker’s steal accounted for the final score.

Peyton Coleman led the scoring for North Nodaway with 15 points, followed by Koby Reynolds with 13. Dakota Smyser had 5, Ben Hart and Kendrick Calfee had 4 each, and Wyatt Tate had 2.

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