Northeast Nodaway's girls ran into adversity on their second game of the year. Skyler Florea rolled her ankle in practice Tuesday and was out for Wednesday's game. She had scored 26 of Northeast's 31 points against King City two nights before, meaning Northeast Nodaway would have to find a way to score rather than just feed her the ball. But then Blair Nelson stepped up and scored 18 for the Bluejays and Hayley Yost stepped up on the boards, grabbing 15, as the Bluejays pulled away in the second quarter and held off Union Star in the second half, getting the 31-17 win Wednesday.
Stuck without their leading scorer, Northeast was in a haze the first quarter, trailing 1-0 late. Union Star was not the pushover team typical of recent years; they were swarming, pressing, and trapping the whole game, led by the aggression of Kinzie Pettijohn. But after Brianna Meyer grabbed an offensive board with 1:07 left and knocked down both free throws for the Bluejays, the lid came off the basket as Meyer pushed it late in the first and found Blair Nelson loose underneath to make it 4-1 after one.
Something similar happened last year; Baylee Busby, who had scored nearly all Northeast's points in the previous two games, had to quarantine for three weeks, but somehow, the Bluejays stepped up and kept right on winning before Busby came back for the Northeast Nodaway tournament.
Brianna Meyer pushed it up the floor and hit Nelson to start the second quarter. Paisley McQuate countered with a drive, but all of a sudden, Northeast could do no wrong as Gracie Kohlleppel started feeding the open person at will, getting six assists in the period. She hit Nelson twice on the baseline and then Brianna Meyer once to push it to 12-3. She then hit Nelson again to make it 14-3. Union Star started adjusting, crashing hard on Nelson, but she hit Hayley Yost in the post to make it 16-3. Kohlleppel then hit Nelson on the baseline and Yost inside to make it 20-3 before Pettijohn's free throws cut it to 20-5 at the half.
But after Pettijohn knocked one down early in the third, Union Star went from a half court trap to a full court press. Nelson knocked one down to make it 23-7, but then Meyer picked up her third foul and Nelson took a hard fall and came out after being shaken up. But the Bluejays held the fort as Yost continued to anchor down the defensive boards with some help from Kohlleppel. The turnovers mounted for Northeast; they got 24 for the game as Union Star was swarming the post and taking the ball away, but they could only cut it to 23-8 by the end of three.
Both Nelson and Meyer came in to start the fourth, but Union Star finally got the hot hand as Pettijohn got loose in transition and McQuate scored off a drive and Grace Whorton hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 25-15. But then Hayley Yost found Blair Nelson inside, Mylee Wilmes, the littlest player on the floor, snuck in and got an offensive board and fed Hayley Yost backdoor, and then Brianna Meyer swiped an errant inbounds pass, drew Pettijohn's fifth foul, and hit both free throws to make it 31-15 before Makenna Grace scored off a drive in the closing seconds.
Blair Nelson had 18 points for the Bluejays. Brianna Meyer got 7 points, 5 of them from the line. Hayley Yost had 6.
Hayley Yost had 2 blocks. Gracie Kohlleppel and Brianna Meyer had 1 each.
Hayley Yost was a beast on the boards, getting 15. Blair Nelson had 7, Gracie Kohlleppel 6, Brianna Meyer 5, Mylee Wilmes 3, and Ashlynn Kennard 1.
Gracie Kohlleppel had 7 assists. Brianna Meyer had 2, and Blair Nelson, Hayley Yost, and Mylee Wilmes 1 each.
Brianna Meyer had 8 tips. Mylee Wilmes had 7, and Hayley Yost, Gracie Kohlleppel, and Blair Nelson had 3 each.
Hayley Yost had 4 steals. Brianna Meyer and Mylee Wilmes had 3 each, and Gracie Kohlleppel and Blair Nelson had 2 each.
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