At first, it looked like Albany would run away with the game. North Nodaway faceguarded Gabby Newman and held her down for most of the game as Saylor Brown established herself as one of the top defenders in the area; she is just a sophomore. But Sierra Anthony ran wild in the post all day, scoring 21 points and carrying the Warriors on her shoulders.
Albany scored the first eight points of the game, and looked to be in control; however, Ellaina Renfro got a putback and then Kandace Damgar shot the Mustangs back into the game, so that they took an 11-9 lead after one quarter.
Despite struggling with turnovers (32) and giving up offensive boards all day (21), North Nodaway somehow stayed in the game and were down only two at the half after Saylor Brown’s drive at the buzzer. They then took the lead when Saylor Brown hit a 3-pointer, Jadon Dobbins scored off a drive, and Jacquelyn Cline scored off another to put the Mustangs in front 24-19. Anthony brought the Warriors back to within 26-24 after three, but North Nodaway looked to be in control after pulled away to a 32-25 lead with 4:59 left in the fourth after Jacquelyn Cline’s drive.
But then Michaela Martin got a steal, which led to a three point play from Emily Poppa, which resurrected Albany’s chances. North Nodaway got another steal to make it 32-30. Saylor Brown scored off a drive to make it 34-30 with 1:45 left, but Kayce Messner answered with a 3-pointer and Albany got yet another steal and Messner tied it at 34 with 1:17 left.
After both sides passed up chances to go ahead, Gabby Newman finally got untracked with 25 seconds, scoring a free throw to put Albany in front 35-34. North Nodaway turned it over, Newman dribbled 10 seconds off the clock before she got fouled, and made one out of two to make it 36-34 with 10.5 seconds left.
North Nodaway got it into their end with seven seconds and called timeout to set up a play. But Albany knocked it out of bounds with 3.5 seconds left. North Nodaway got it into Jacquelyn Cline, who drove down the left baseline and put it in as time expired to send the game to overtime tied at 36.
Albany took an early lead in overtime, but then Saylor Brown tied it up at 39 with 1:42 left off a pass from Jadon Dobbins. But then Michaela Martin hit two free throws to put Albany back in front 41-39 with 1:31 left. North Nodaway missed a 3-pointer and turned it over on their next two possessions, and then Emily Poppa hit two free throws with 40 seconds left to make it two possessions at 43-39.
Saylor Brown hit a free throw to make it 43-40, but then Newman seemingly salted it away at 45-40 with 14 seconds left. But then Jacquelyn Cline hit two free throws with 9.3 seconds left to make it 45-42 and Albany stepped on the line inbounding the ball, and North Nodaway had a glimmer of hope. But then they threw it away and then Emily Poppa hit another free throw to make it two possessions with four seconds to seal the game.
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