Following a period of major changes in the franchise, Northeast Nodaway's girls bounced back from an opening night loss to Albany, beat St. Joseph Christian 42-21 and DeKalb 32-23, and got to the championship game against Nodaway Valley. But the Thunder, still with Ava Graham, are on a par with what Platte Valley was a year ago and had little trouble with the Bluejays as they won 64-25 Friday.
The team started out with 11 players; however, four players quit the team during the preseason. The team was down to seven for the preseason jamboree, which was a rough outing against Nodaway Valley, North Platte, and Maryville. Sheldon Saxton, who coached the team the last few years and who managed the junior high, coached the Bluejays' 34-26 loss to Albany; however, following that game, in which only six players were dressed out, Saxton abruptly turned in his resignation. He will continue to teach at Northeast Nodaway.
Following that, Ike Werner, who coaches the varsity and junior high boys as well, took over the reigns as the coach. Three girls were allowed to come back out for the team, bringing the numbers back up to ten; nine of them were dressed out for Northeast Nodaway's game. He will be assisted by Brayden Hanf.
The Bluejays had matched up well with the Thunder in recent battles even though they came up short, but while the Bluejays are still trying to find their chemistry, the Thunder were already showing the form that has made them one of the dominant teams in the 275 over the last three years. Hadley DeFreece knocked one down from the left side and Skyler Florea, shaking off the rust after sitting out last year and most of the previous year with a shoulder injury, took on Graham and scored. But the rest of the quarter belonged to the Thunder, who moved the ball around at will, racking up 21 assists to just nine for the Bluejays for the night. They built up a 25-4 lead after one.
There was a glimmer of hope for the Bluejays in the second quarter as Ava Graham and Paidyn Linville, another physical defender, both picked up their third fouls. Florea added a 3-pointer, Baylie Busby finally got untracked with four points, Hayley Yost hit a free throw, and Blair Nelson hit a shot from the wing after getting an inbounds pass from DeFreece as they trailed 34-14 at the half. Get Graham on the bench again, and the hope was that anything could happen.
Sure enough, after the Thunder rebuild their lead to 43-16, Hayley Yost took a charge on Graham to draw her fourth foul. But then Savanna Marriott got the hot hand for Nodaway Valley, knocking down 14 points and four 3-pointers in a four minute span as the Thunder lead grew to 59-19 in the fourth quarter.
Skyler Florea had 7 for the Bluejays. Baylie Busby had 6, Hadley DeFreece 5, Blair Nelson 4, Kynder Florea 2, and Hayley Yost 1.
Skyler Florea, Baylie Busby, and Blair Nelson had 1 block each.
Hayley Yost had 9 rebounds. Baylie Busby had 4, Kynder Florea 3, Skyler Florea 2, and Blair Nelson and Hadley DeFreece 1.
Hadley DeFreece had 4 assists. Baylie Busby had 2, and Hayley Yost, Skyler Florea, and Sasha Deardorff had 1.
Baylie Busby had 7 tips. Blair Nelson and Kynder Florea had 4, and Hadley DeFreece and Hayley Yost had 3.
Baylie Busby and Kynder Florea had 2 steals. Sasha Deardorff, Blair Nelson, Hayley Yost, and Hadley DeFreece had 1 each.
Baylie Busby was named to the all-tournament team.
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