It was a David versus Goliath battle between Northeast Nodaway’s Bluejays, with most of their team back, and East Atchison, with its collection of skyscrapers, bruisers, and the standout point guard and clutch scorer Grace Oswald. But Baylee Busby thrived under the pressure, getting a triple double, getting 12 points, 10 tips, and 10 steals. She nearly got a quadruple, adding nine boards against the much taller Wolves. Everybody else chipped in as well, as the Bluejays survived with the 25-21 win over East Atchison. Normally, East Atchison splits up their squad and sends their big guns to another tournament; however, this time, they brought all their big guns to the tournament.
Last year, Northeast played a similar game against Maryville, also a much taller squad. They laid it all on the line, coming up short in the third place battle by four in a battle between seventh graders and eighth graders. They played without Hadley DeFreece in that game (flu), and Skyler Florea was still in sixth grade. But the addition of two more ball handlers made all the difference, along with a year more experience. “The sky is the limit for these girls,” said Coach Sheldon Saxton. “I’ve never coached such an unselfish group of players.” Saxton has coached various teams in the area for the last 16 years. The players celebrated in the locker for 20-30 minutes afterwards and then all gave a hug to Makenzie Pride, who could not play because of surgery and who was in crutches.
Northeast jumped out to a 6-2 lead, as Busby scored off a steal and then beat the Wolves’ constant pressure. Lizzie Schlueter countered with a prayer from the top of the key that went in, but then Hadley DeFreece hit Lindsey Jackson from the left baseline to make it 6-2. But then the orange shirts countered as Grace Oswald got a putback and Jillian Hannah scored from inside to knot it at 6-6 after one.
But after Sydnee Bruns, one of the Wolves’ biggest players, got shaken up late in the first quarter and didn’t return to the game, Northeast began to take control. Skyler Florea scored off a drive after Baylee Busby inbounded the ball to her, and then added a coast to coast layup, forcing East Atchison into their first timeout. But Skyler Florea beat the press and hit a free throw, and Baylee Busby scored from inside off a pass from Florea to make it 13-6 at the break as the Wolves were held scoreless in the second.
East Atchison came out in the third quarter being much more patient with the ball, and both teams traded blows for much of the third quarter. Finally, after Schlueter picked up her third foul and sat, Busby hit a free throw and Hadley DeFreece hit Lindsey Jackson on the baseline to make it 18-10 at the 2:09 mark. But then East Atchison flung up two shots that somehow went in the basket, and the Wolves were back within 18-14 after three.
There was a heartstopping moment at the start of the fourth, when Baylee Busby apparently picked up her fourth foul, which would have sat her down for a critical stretch. But the referees gave it to Sasha Deardorff instead, and Busby took full advantage of her new lease on life. She went coast to coast after Northeast got a stop on defense, and added a putback to make it 22-14 at the 3:33 mark. Then, Sasha Deardorff, who had been so big in Northeast’s first win over Stanberry, came up big again. She scored her only two points of the game after Hadley DeFreece threw an entry pass at both Deardorff and Florea. Deardorff took the pass and her shot over the much taller Wolves defenders was nothing but net, and Northeast led 24-14.
That meant that Northeast was still in control despite East Atchison’s frantic efforts in the next two minutes, swarming, pressing, and trying to get the ball back. East Atchison had fouls to give, they could afford to be aggressive on defense, and they got their deficit down to 24-18 before Northeast finally got in the bonus and Baylee Busby hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to seal it. Ally Wooten’s 35 foot heave cut it to four, but then time expired.
Baylee Busby had 12 points, Skyler Florea 7, Lindsey Jackson 4, and Sasha Deardorff 2.
Baylee Busby had 9 boards. Skyler Florea, Hadley DeFreece, and Lindsey Jackson had 4, and Sasha Deardorff and Gracie Kohlleppel had 1 each.
Hadley DeFreece had 3 assists, Skyler Florea 2, and Baylee Busby and Lindsey Jackson 1 each.
Baylee Busby had 10 tips. Hadley DeFreece had 7, Skyler Florea 4, Sasha Deardorff 2, and Gracie Kohlleppel 1.
Baylee Busby had 10 steals. Hadley DeFreece had 5, Gracie Kohlleppel gave valuable minutes off the bench and got 4, Skyler Florea 3, and Sasha Deardorff, Mylee Wilmes, and Lindsey Jackson 1 each.
Northeast has won a lot of David vs. Goliath games over the years, including the Bluejay boys’ one point win over Fairfax in the 1987 Regional Championship in Fairfax. In that game, Northeast, with nobody over 6 feet, went up against Fairfax, with a front line of 6’8” and 6’4”. Nobody gave the Bluejays a chance, but they were still in the game down 33-30 after three. At the start of the fourth, they got possession and worked the ball around for two minutes until finally, Todd Archer hit a shot from the top of the key to cut it to one. Northeast would later take the lead and win the game by one.
The next year, with Northeast Nodaway and Maryville’s boys playing in the Nodaway County Tournament championship, Maryville hit two free throws with three seconds left to go up by two. The Maryville student section went nuts, throwing confetti in the air. The only thing Claude Samson told his troops was to tell his players to throw it as far as they could. Todd Simmons would air out a pass the length of the court to Todd Archer, who hit a shot from the same spot to send it to overtime, which the Bluejays won.
More recently, during the summer of 2010 on the girls side, Jacqueline Schulte dropped one over a much taller girl with five seconds left as Northeast downed a powerful Trenton squad; later that same day, Northeast downed a Kearney (NE) squad, with four six-footers, and who was 16-5 the year before, by 15. That squad would go on to beat Chelsea and Ashley Merrigan and Kendle Schieber and Jefferson by three for the conference title and go 26-2.
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