Both Worth County junior high basketball teams were decimated by “close contact” quarantines, for allegedly being in “close contact” with someone who had tested positive for the Coronavirus. As a result, the girls didn’t have enough players for the tournament and had to drop out. The boys were able to dress out five players for last Tuesday’s game.
Mid-Buchanan was a last-minute replacement for Worth County on the girls. They sent up their seventh grade squad, managed by Ashley Merrigan, a one-time teacher and junior high girls basketball coach at Northeast. The Bluejays got back Baylee Busby for Tuesday’s game and won handily 42-13.
The boys and girls games went the same way. Northeast built up a big lead after one; once the game was well in hand, Coach Sheldon Saxton substituted freely and everyone got a chance to play.
Northeast placed second in the King City Tournament the week before on the girls side in their pool. They won handily against King City, who had beaten them twice last year; the Bluejays wound up reversing their fortunes by beating them twice this time. Then, they lost to North Andrew, who looks to reload again with a 5’10” player who moves as well as anyone at that level. In the Stanberry game, the game turned out like their first matchup. The Bluejays trailed most of the game, and neither team could solve the other team’s pressure defense. Finally, Skyler Florea carried the team on her shoulders and brought the Bluejays back into the game with six straight points.
With 30 seconds left, with Northeast down one, Hadley DeFreece was being trapped and tripped and fell, but somehow got the ball ahead to Mylee Wilmes, the littlest player on the team. She scored as she was being hammered by a Stanberry player. She missed the free throw, but NEN got the stop and Florea hit two free throws to seal it.
There was little of that drama in Tuesday’s game. Northeast jumped on Mid-Buchanan early, racing out to a 14-2 lead. The Dragons tried to press, but Florea drove right through them like they weren’t there, and scored 10 points in the period. The reserves played much of the second quarter, which saw the green shirts close to within 18-9 before Busby scored twice late to give the Bluejays a 22-9 halftime lead.
Northeast raced ahead in the third quarter, scoring 14 unanswered points to make it 36-9 after three. Skyler Florea scored six more in the period, Busby added four more, and Sasha Deardorff and Lindsey Jackson chipped in.
Skyler Florea had a career night with 18 points. Baylee Busby had 12 and padded the stat line, getting 6 boards, 9 tips, and 9 steals. Lindsey Jackson had 6, as did Sasha Deardorff, who is developing a deadly midrange shot. Cora Munns continued to show improvement off the bench, grabbing five boards.
The boys game turned out the same way, with NEN winning 28-13. Worth County didn’t have an answer to either Ethan Gascoigne or Landon Wilmes, both of who had 8 points in the first quarter as Northeast jumped out to an 18-2 first quarter lead. From there, Northeast subbed freely the rest of the game and led by as much as 28-8 after three.
For Northeast, Ethan Gascoigne had 14 points, 10 boards, and 7 steals. Landon Wilmes had 8 points and 6 steals. Drew Dack had 2 points and took a charge on defense. Jake Redden and Gaige Bodle also had 2.
For Worth County, Andrew Griffin had 6. Karson Briner, Cannon Fletcher, and Carter Chapman all had 2. Brayden Combs had 1. Karson Briner did all he could to get Worth County back in the game, getting 9 steals.
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