Northeast Nodaway’s girls were seeded second and South Harrison seventh in Tuesday’s first round matchup of the South Harrison Tournament, but the recordbook could be thrown out before the game started. First, South Harrison had put up 50 against Princeton despite losing the game before, so they had come a long ways from the team that lost by 29 to Worth County and 42 to North Harrison.
Secondly, their coach, Mike Trussell, had coached Maysville when the Wolverines and Bluejays played some knock-down drag-out games in King City in 2011 and 2012. Thirdly of all, Trussell and NEN Assistant Linda Mattson coached together when they were in Jefferson back in the early 2000’s, so both coaches knew each other well. The result was a much better game than advertised by the seedings. Thankfully, NEN came away with the 61-45 win and moved on to face North Harrison.
It started off close as Brooke Blanton’s putback cut South Harrison’s deficit to 6-4 halfway through the first quarter. Then, it looked like NEN would romp to an easy win as Makayla Adwell got loose for a free throw, Paige West hit Madelynn Mattson inside, West added a steal, Adwell added another, and Mattson hit a free throw to make it 14-4.
But South Harrison, while they still turned the ball over a lot, did a much job of putting on pressure of their own and attacking the rim, meaning they were able to put points on the board. Northeast turned the ball over seven times in the first, which let the Bulldogs back into the game. They scored the next seven points as Cooper Jennings capped the run with a steal early in the second to make it 14-11.
NEN countered as Cassy Redden, who had a career night with 11 points, drove to the rim and got two free throws. Mattson hit two more and Blair Stoll hit from the right wing off a pass from Gerry Runde to make it 23-13.
The game stayed between six and ten points, but then South Harrison started coming closer as they kept relentlessly getting to the rim. Milaynie May’s backdoor look with 10 second gave the Bulldogs reason for hope as they were down only 30-27 at half.
It looked like South Harrison would make use of their height in the second half and take control of the game as Blanton got loose inside and Karsyn Bennett got loose twice as the Bulldogs got within 34-33 with 5:24 left.
But then all of a sudden, Paige West restored order for NEN; she had 9 steals and 9 tips in the game, most in the second half, to help quash the run. Blair Stoll hit Cassy Redden on the baseline, Makayla Adwell hit from the left wing after a pass from Cassy Redden, Redden scored off a West steal, and Blair Stoll hit Gerry Runde in the high post after Makayla Adwell pushed one ahead as NEN got some badly needed breathing space and led 42-33 with 2:52 left.
South Harrison switched to a trapping defense and began chipping away, getting Bennett loose on a driving layup and a free throw. Finally, Riley Purdun got loose for a putback at the buzzer as South Harrison got back within 43-38 to start the fourth.
But with the Bulldogs having every expectation of a comeback, Northeast suddenly pushed the lead up to 16. Makayla Adwell scored off a Paige West steal, Gerry Runde hit a free throw and then got loose inside, Runde hit Mattson inside, Makayla Adwell scored off a Blair Stoll steal, and Gerry Runde scored inside off a pass from Madelynn Mattson to make it 54-38.
South Harrison didn’t give up, getting to the rim as they cut their deficit to 54-44 as Paige Peterson got the hot hand for them. But then Cassy Redden hit Madelynn Mattson inside and added a backdoor look, Makayla Adwell scored in transition, and Redden hit a free throw to finally put South Harrison away.
Northeast had four in double figures for the night. Madelynn Mattson led NEN with 15 points. Gerry Runde and Makayla Adwell had 14, Cassy Redden had 11, Paige West 4, and Blair Stoll had 3.
Paige West had 2 blocks and Gerry Runde 1.
Northeast still got 31 boards despite South Harrison’s height advantage. Cassy Redden, who gave up several inches to the two South Harrison skyscrapers, had 7, as did Makayla Adwell. Paige West, Madelynn Mattson, and Gerry Runde had 4 each. Blair Stoll had 3 and Angela Standiford had 2.
Blair Stoll had 5 assists to lead NEN. Cassy Redden, Gerry Runde, Paige West, and Madelynn Mattson had 4 each. Makayla Adwell had 2.
Paige West had 9 tips for Northeast. Makayla Adwell had 6, Blair Stoll 5, Madelynn Mattson 4, and Cassy Redden 2.
Paige West had 9 steals to lead NEN. Gerry Runde had 6, Blair Stoll 5, Makayla Adwell 4, Cassy Redden 3, and Madelynn Mattson 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment