Monday, February 20, 2017

Mustang Girls Clinch Winning Season with Victory Over Rockets

North Nodaway’s girls clinched a winning season Thursday with a 47-19 victory over West Nodaway. They were 14-11 going into districts; it was their second winning season in three years under coach Sami Jackson’s tenure. Last year, they were 12-13.

Madison Thompson’s putback and Kristin Herndon’s backdoor layup put North Nodaway up 4-0 at the 4:47 mark, but then West Nodaway did a much better job handling the ball than they did when the two teams met twice before. They made much better passes and found driving lanes early for Alissa Nelson, who scored three straight to bring the Rockets to within 4-3. Ashley Thompson’s inside shot off a pass from Bethany Herndon and a baseline shot from Alisha Davison after she had saved one from going out but North Nodaway up 8-3.

For a team that won three games, West Nodaway was hanging around, but then two things happened that is the sort of thing that happens when you have a long season. First, the Rockets sent too many players onto the court and got a technical foul that Kelsi Oberhauser converted one of two on. The Rockets hung around for the first 4½ minutes of the second quarter, trailing only 13-6. But then their best interior player, Brittney McIntyre, shoved Madison Thompson after being called for a foul and got a technical foul, giving her a seat on the bench for the rest of the game. It was the second game for North Nodaway’s girls in as many weeks that was marred by technical fouls.

Alisha Davison converted the technical shots and North Nodaway finished the half on a 9-4 run to take a 22-10 halftime lead. With the Rockets having nobody that could match up with Madison Thompson in the second half, she took over, scoring the first six points of the half to make it 28-10. North Nodaway went on to score 19 in the frame, with Kandace Damgar closing out the scoring with a triple and a pair of free throws to make it 41-13.

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