Brianna Meyer Swipes 9 but Junior High Bluejays Fall Short

Northeast Nodaway's junior high girls basketball team got a big defensive night from Brianna Meyer as she had 9 steals, but the Bluejays fell short 19-17 to King City Monday night. Blair Nelson hit a baseline shot after a pass from Kynder Florea, Brianna Meyer scored off a steal, and Nelson hit another baseline shot to put the Bluejays up 6-0. But from there, Northeast struggled to finish at the rim and King City started chipping away. By the end of the first half, the Bluejay lead was down to 8-6, the only points being a putback from Bristol Hicks.

By the third quarter, the lead was gone as King City, who had a lot of eighth graders on the team, saw their experience tell. Beatrix Bowden took over the game in the third quarter, scoring five, and by the end of the third quarter, the King City lead was 11-8. 

Kynder Florea pushed ahead to Hayley Yost to cut it to one, and Yost added a free throw to tie it at 11 after Blair Nelson got a steal. But once again, Northeast left Bowden unguarded as she hit a three and then Brylin Armfield added a shot from the left wing to make it 16-11.

Once again, Northeast fought back as Hayley Yost hit two free throws, Kynder Florea scored off a drive, and Bristol Hicks scored in transition after a pass from Kynder Florea to put the Bluejays back in front 17-16 at the 2:06 mark of the fourth. But then a player who hadn't scored all night for King City, Bailey Atkins, knocked down a 3-pointer to give King City the two point victory.

Hayley Yost had 5 points for the Bluejays. Blair Nelson and Bristol Hicks had 4, and Kynder Florea and Brianna Meyer had 2 each. 

Kynder Florea and Blair Nelson had 1 block each.

Hayley Yost had 7 boards. Blair Nelson and Kynder Florea had 6 each, Bristol Hicks 3, and Brianna Meyer 2.

Kynder Florea had 4 assists while Brianna Meyer had 1.

Brianna Meyer had 8 tips. Blair Nelson and Kynder Florea had 5 each, while Rylee Scadden had 1.

Brianna Meyer had 9 steals. Kynder Florea and Blair Nelson had 3 each.

The "B" squad won 2-0, with Adie Thummel knocking down a jumper for the win,

The boys lost 47-27 to King City. Unlike recent years, the boys had numbers this year with 12 players going out. But King City returned everyone from a team that pushed Bo Collins and the Worth County squad last year and then some; they ran Northeast out of the gym in the first half. They couldn't do anything against Jonathon Talamantes, who ran wild with 22 points for the Wildkats. King City worked the backdoor to death and stole the ball right and left against Northeast, as their lack of experience showed.

The second half was much better as Northeast figured out they could attack the rim against King City and set up some good looks from outside. But they could never get closer than 18.

Lance Runde had 8 for the Bluejays. Reece Gray had 7, Liam Cordell 5, Benton Roberts 3, Wyatt Scadden 2, and Chase Allen 2. 

The "B" squad trailed for the whole game, and they were down 6-3 at one point. But they never stopped attacking the rim; one highlight was Brady O'Connell driving the lane and flipping up a prayer. He didn't realize the shot went in until after he got up. Finally, Benton Roberts got a steal and converted a layup with 1:36 left to go, and Northeast played strong defense the rest of the way to get the 7-6 win. Benton Roberts had 5 and Brady O'Connell 2 for the Bluejays.