North Nodaway’s girls, given up for dead after the first quarter of Friday night’s game, came back to win 40-31 over South Nodaway behind Audrey Trimble’s 18 points to claim the third place trophy at the Northwest Missouri Tournament.
There was every reason to expect a closer game than North Nodaway’s 43-25 win over the Longhorns in the December conference game. But what transpired threatened to turn into a carnage similar to the Rock Port game. North Nodaway was flinging the ball instead of shooting it in the first quarter, turned it over six times, and failed to guard sharpshooter Kaylin LaMaster at the first quarter buzzer as she hit an NBA three to put her Longhorns up 11-0.
But North Nodaway had reason for hope despite the carnage. Ashley Thompson stayed on the floor, which meant some badly needed defensive rebounding; she would not pick up her first foul until the second quarter and would stay on the floor most of the game. They were getting plenty of tips defensively, meaning they were forcing South Nodaway out of their rhythm. And they were able to keep a good rebounding team off the boards for the most part, only giving up seven offensive boards.
South Nodaway was fronting Thompson hard and helping out. After Thompson got her streak of several double doubles in a row, enemy coaches have started adjusting and planning their defenses around stopping her. So the challenge for North Nodaway was to figure out where else the scoring would come from.
The answer, at least for Friday night, was Audrey Trimble; she showed that her 16 point outburst against Worth County was no accident as she topped that in the South Nodaway game. After throwing the ball all over the gym in the first quarter, the Mustangs settled down and only turned it over five more times the rest of the game.
Eryn Kemper’s triple made it 14-2, but then North Nodaway started to come back as Kandace Damgar hit Kristin Herndon for a triple. Audrey Trimble followed it with back to back triples, and all of a sudden it was a game again at 14-11. Ashley Thompson and Audrey Trimble hit free throws, Keagan O’Riley scored in transition, and Audrey Trimble got a steal at the buzzer to put North Nodaway up 17-14 at the half. North Nodaway put on their half court trap late in the half, which seemed to bother the Longhorns for the remainder of the game.
South Nodaway came out in the second half seeking to work the short corner to free up LaMaster for some looks. It worked at first as LaMaster connected to put her team up 19-17. Keagan O’Riley’s drive put North Nodaway back up 20-19, but then Hannah Wilmes got a drive and pullup and Kandace Damgar leveled LaMaster attempting a three; she made all three attempts. Miya Wiederholt worked the short corner to make it 26-20 as the Longhorns seemingly got back in control again.
But then Kandace Damgar hit the first of two huge triples to cut the lead in half and followed that by hitting Kristin Herndon inside; she made two free throws to cut it to 26-25. Kristin Herndon inbounded it to Audrey Trimble for a triple to make it 28-26 and put North Nodaway back in front again.
North Nodaway did a much better job of contesting the short corner and keeping an eye on LaMaster down the stretch. After her three free throws, LaMaster didn’t score again the rest of the game. Finally, lightning struck twice for North Nodaway as Keagan O’Riley got a steal with 5 seconds left and fed Audrey Trimble at the buzzer to make it 30-26 at the buzzer.
With Ashley Thompson on the bench with three fouls, South Nodaway got the ball into Hannah Wilmes to cut it to 30-28, but Thompson came back in and the driving lanes were closed for the most part the rest of the way and everything close was contested.
On the other end, South Nodaway did not have a lot of fouls, so they could afford to be aggressive. But North Nodaway got a drive from Trimble and a free throw from Keagan O’Riley to make it 33-28 with 3:52 left.
Elizabeth Turpin’s free throw made it 33-29, but then Damgar made the second of two huge 3-pointers, making it three possessions with 2:31 left. North Nodaway then switched to a diamond and one on LaMaster, and South Nodaway spent valuable time trying to figure out how to attack it before North Nodaway got a stop. Keagan O’Riley missed the front end of a 1-1 with 57 seconds left and Elizabeth Turpin hit a tough shot from the baseline over Ashley Thompson to make it 36-31. But again, the Longhorns took valuable time to get that look as North Nodaway was playing lockdown defense at that point; they needed almost 30 seconds.
South Nodaway fouled Keagan O’Riley again; she had missed a 1-1 previously, but this time, she made both free throws to make it two possessions again. South Nodaway missed two frantic tries at the basket and Audrey Trimble hit two more free throws with 14 seconds left to ice it.
Audrey Trimble had 18 points to lead North Nodaway. Keagan O’Riley had 7 points, none bigger than the two at the end to make it three possessions with 27.3 seconds left. Kandace Damgar had 6, all from three-pointers at critical moments in the game. Kristin Herndon had 5 and Ashley Thompson had 4.
Kristin Herndon and Ashley Thompson had 1 block each.
Ashley Thompson had 8 boards to lead North Nodaway. Kristin Herndon had 6, Audrey Trimble 4, Kandace Damgar 3, Alisha Davison 2, and Keagan O’Riley 1.
Kristin Herndon had 6 assists for North Nodaway. Kandace Damgar had 4, Keagan O’Riley 3, and Audrey Trimble 2.
Kandace Damgar had 7 tips for the Mustangs. Audrey Trimble had 6, Kristin Herndon 3, Ashley Thompson and Alisha Davison 2 each, and Emma Hart 1.
Kandace Damgar, Audrey Trimble, and Keagan O’Riley each had 2 steals. Ashley Thompson had 1.
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