When one player is taken away, others need to step up.

Centralia Invitational Girls Day 2 Photo Gallery

The North Callaway girls had that happen on Wednesday night when Van-Far focused on Natalie Shryock in North Callaway’s 47-36 consolation bracket victory in the Centralia Invitational. The Ladybirds play Macon (2-4) at 5 p.m. Friday while Van-Far is eliminated but after hitting seven 3-pointers and drawing as close as one point in the second half.

North Callaway head coach Andrew Klein said the girls’ struggled with their shooting for the second straight game and needed to try something else to stay alive in the tournament. The leading scorer Shryock was limited to four points — also had three blocks — against Van-Far’s defense.

“We did a good job living at the free-throw line in the second half,” Klein said. “We realized the shots weren’t falling the way we wanted them to, even though they were good looks. That doesn’t mean our girls are going to stop shooting.”

Riley Blevins finished with 18 points and six rebounds, and Lakyn Hartley had 12 points. Blevins converted on 9-of-10 free throws — all in the second half.

“Our team’s a good free-throw shooting team, and that’s important,” Klein said. “(Riley) can have all the accolades. She’s been really rock-solid from the line, and the same with Natalie Shryock. It’s awesome to see them knock down free throws when it matters most.”

Van-Far (1-3) played its best during the first and third quarters, trailing 11-6 after the first quarter but outscoring North Callaway 15-11 in the third quarter. The Lady Indians used an 11-0 run to trail 22-21 until Shryock hit a fadeaway jumper to bring the run to a halt, which was her first field goal of the game.

Van-Far head coach Heather Minter said Shryock was a key focus as the Lady Indians and the rest of the Eastern Missouri Conference has seen her gain the hot hand at various times. 

“You just can’t give her room because she’s a good shooter,” Minter said.

Van-Far hosts North Callaway (2-2) at 7:30 p.m. Monday with some confidence heading into the rematch. Minter said finding confidence has been a goal early in the season and believes she saw that on Wednesday.

“We’ve been struggling with confidence, and that’s what we’ve been preaching all week,” Minter said. “We just couldn’t make shots, but overall, they played hard. We took a step in the right direction, but we just didn’t get the W.”

Van-Far has started three freshmen this season, and they all had solid games on Wednesday. Kenya Jones led with 13 points and three 3-pointers, Elliott Utterback followed with 10 points and four rebounds, and Mylee Keller had seven points and two 3-pointers. 

Minter said Van-Far did well offensively when the girls were patient and had people moving and cutting more frequently. At key times, this led to a Lady Indian being open on the perimeter and knocking it down. Jones nailed a 3-pointer in the third quarter to make it 28-25 North Callaway before the Ladybirds snatched away the momentum at the last second with a buzzer-beating 3 from Blevins.

“It’s big when a lot of times we don’t rely on Carmen (Wilburn) and Elliott,” Minter said. “Kenya had a big game and stepped up and hit shots when we needed them. We also know North Callaway is a good shooting team that is loaded with guards.”

Klein said North Callaway needed to move harder to better counter Van-Far’s shooters but thought the rebounding was better, including Kymorie Myers’ team-high seven, Blevins’ six and four rebounds each from Shryock, Hartley and Faith Cash.

“We went from zone to man a couple times and tried pressing them,” Klein said. “In the second half, it didn’t work quite as well, and it’s something we have to tidy up in practice.”