North Nodaway nearly lost the lead against Worth County Tuesday in the girls game, but held off the Tigers down the stretch to come away with a 34-32 victory. The game showed how much Worth County had improved over last year; with nearly the same set of players, they were buried by the Mustangs last year, but took them down to the wire this year.
The Mustangs could have won by more, but missed a ton of free throws to keep things interesting. Worth County struggled with point guard Kynah Steele on the bench in the second quarter, but then started making use of their size in the third to get back in the game by winning the battle of the boards. But then North Nodaway got some key boards in the fourth and made just enough free throws to preserve the lead.
The game started off tight in the first quarter, with neither team able to get a lead of two possessions. Jacquelyn Cline had 5 and Saryn Brown 4 as North Nodaway led 9-6 after one. Worth County countered with a basket from Taylor Sanders off a loose ball carom, two free throws from Alison Anderson, and a coast to coast drive from Hailey Adwell.
Saryn Brown went coast to coast against Worth County’s press and made a free throw to make it 10-6. Ali Brown went backdoor to make it 10-8, but then Tiger point guard Kynah Steele went out with foul trouble and North Nodaway started taking over. Kelsey Barcus hit two free throws after keeping a possession alive. Saryn Brown dove on the floor to save a possession and North Nodaway got a timeout called right before she was tied up. That led to a Jacquelyn Cline drive and kickout to Ellaina Renfro on the left side to make it 14-8. Saryn Brown hit Lauren Herndon for three, and then MacKenzie Titus skipped one to Kelsey Barcus for a baseline shot to make it 19-8 before Madelyn Runde’s drive for Worth County made it 19-10.
But then Worth County started making good use of its size advantage on the boards and leading scorer Ali Brown finally got untracked. Saryn Brown tried to take over for North Nodaway, getting a basket in transition and stealing an inbounds pass to make it 23-12, but then Hailey Adwell’s putback with 3:13 left made it 23-16 as Worth County started chipping away. Jacquelyn Cline sliced through pressure and scored to make it 27-18, but then Autumn Cousatte, one of the most improved players from the start of the year for Worth County, cleaned up an offensive glass for the Tigers, and Kynah Steele cleaned up another to make it 27-22 after three. Worth County was able to take control of the boards in the quarter, carrying a 29-20 rebounding advantage going into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers got as close as one point in the fourth, but North Nodaway won the battle of the boards in the period, 9-3 and got just enough free throws to win. Ali Brown’s inside shot made it one possession with 4:35 left off a pass from Kara Staton at 29-26, but Lauren Herndon’s putback made it 31-26. Worth County kept coming as Hailey Adwell got a pass from Alison Anderson in transition and Kynah Steele got loose against the North Nodaway defense and got a pass from Ali Brown to make it 31-30.
Lauren Herndon knocked an errant North Nodaway shot off the gold shirts to keep a possession alive, and Jacquelyn Cline hit two free throws with 1:33 left to stop the bleeding and make it 33-30. But then Alison Anderson, with a defender in her face in the high post, took a pass from Kynah Steele and banked it home to make it 33-32 with 1:20, still plenty of time.
Saryn Brown missed two free throws with 1:05 left, and Alison Anderson got the board with a chance for Worth County to take the lead. But Ali Brown missed a shot and a putback try. Lauren Herndon’s try at a dagger three and MacKenzie Titus’ putback try both went astray and the ball went out off the blue shirts with 31 seconds left. Worth County got the ball into Ali Brown on the right baseline, but MacKenzie Titus contested it well with 21 seconds left, and Saryn Brown got the defensive board.
North Nodaway ran the clock all the way down to 5.7 seconds left, and then Saryn Brown made one out of two free throws to make it 34-32. Ali Brown got the defensive board with 5 seconds left, and a timeout gave Worth County a last chance. Worth County threw a desperation heave at the basket, as North Nodaway defended well. There was a heartstopping moment as the ball caromed through a crowd of gold jerseys with time still left on the clock, but nobody could secure it before time expired.
For North Nodaway, Saryn Brown had 11, Jacquelyn Cline 10, Lauren Herndon 7, Kelsey Barcus 4, and Ellaina Renfro 2.
Saryn Brown had 1 block.
MacKenzie Titus had 8 boards for the Mustangs. Saryn Brown had 6, Jacquelyn Cline and Ellaina Renfro 5 each, Lauren Herndon 4, and Kelsey Barcus 1.
Jacquelyn Cline had 4 assists for North Nodaway. Saryn Brown had 3, MacKenzie Titus 2, and Ellaina Renfro 1.
Jacquelyn Cline had 8 tips for North Nodaway. Saryn Brown had 7, Ellaina Renfro 5, Lauren Herndon 4, MacKenzie Titus 3, and Sarah Chesnut and Kelsey Barcus 1.
Lauren Herndon, Saryn Brown, and Jacquelyn Cline all had 3 steals. Ellaina Renfro had 2, while MacKenzie Titus had 1.
For Worth County, Ali Brown had 10. Kynah Steele and Hailey Adwell had 6, Alison Anderson had 4, and Taylor Sanders, Madelyn Runde, and Autumn Cousatte had 2 each.
Alison Anderson had 2 blocks, while Ali Brown and Hailey Adwell had 1 each.
Ali Brown had 9 boards for Worth County. Hailey Adwell had 7, Alison Anderson 5, Kynah Steele 4, Autumn Cousatte and Kara Staton 3, and Taylor Sanders 1.
Kynah Steele had 2 assists, while Taylor Sanders, Hailey Adwell, Kara Staton, Alison Anderson, and Ali Brown had 1 each.
Ali Brown had 6 tips, Alison Anderson and Hailey Adwell 4 each, while Taylor Sanders and Kynah Steele had 2.
Hailey Adwell had 3 steals, while Taylor Sanders, Kynah Steele, and Ali Brown each had 1.
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