The North Callaway girls struggled to find a lead again on Monday but needed to find something else first.

The Ladybirds lost 43-40 to Eastern Missouri Conference foe Wright City (5-14, 1-6 EMO) at home for Senior Night despite leading 24-21 at halftime. North Callaway (7-16, 2-6 EMO) had the lead throughout the first half but lost it early in the second half.

North Callaway would never get the lead back as Wright City drained seven 3-pointers, including four by Shiriah McRoberts as part of her floor-high 16 points. Head coach Andrew Klein said North Callaway couldn’t find a sense of urgency until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter.

North Callaway Girls Senior Night Photo Gallery

“We just didn’t play with enough urgency,” Klein said. “I like our ability to be scrappy, fly around and be gritty when our backs are against the wall, but we’ve got to play urgently and under pressure for four quarters.”

North Callaway displayed some scrappiness early in the game when it swatted turnovers out of the hands of Wright City and had some offensive putbacks. Once Wright City took a 26-24 lead, Klein said there wasn’t enough urgency for a long enough period. 

“We’ve got to be desperate all the time,” Klein said. “For the last three minutes, it feels like we play that way and we play good basketball, but we needed four or five minutes to win it.”

Klein said this is partly due to the young team North Callaway had going into the season and how much younger it has gotten as the season has progressed. The Ladybirds have had the flu go through the locker room, which sidelined senior Kymorie Myers for a few games. Myers finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds to follow Sophie Olsson’s 12 points and three steals while Icey Tomlinson had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Starter Anna Shryock has also been sidelined with an ankle injury, senior Violet Martin was lost earlier for the rest of the season with a torn ACL, and several others have dealt with injuries. This has led to junior varsity being bumped up to play more varsity minutes. 

“I would say that those girls have an expectation from me and our staff that, if they’re going to be in a varsity game, they need to be able to make varsity plays,” Klein said. “I have all the trust in them to do that or else I wouldn’t put them on the floor. When you’re a freshman in February, you’re basically a sophomore, especially for these freshmen who have gotten a lot of varsity.”

Klein said the excuses for losing the ball on rebounds and passes aren’t as acceptable after a lot of experience. He said North Callaway has to take better care of and be smoother with the ball, and the team has worked on it every day by doing things such as dribble tag and making chest passes across the floor in practice.

“It’s something we’ve been practicing over the last few weeks because it is something we’re not getting much better at or taking enough pride in,” Klein said. “I’ll put that on me that we’ve got to be better with the ball.”

Before the game, Myers, Martin, Grace Rasmussen and manager Addison Bedsworth were honored before the game for Senior Night. Myers came through at a big moment when she made a layup while being fouled to cut North Callaway’s deficit to 41-38. Olsson hit a jumper to further cut it to 42-40.

Klein said he is glad to have had these girls around during this season to provide leadership and stability and to hopefully inspire the younger players the rest of the way. He said he congratulates Myers for going to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale to play softball and Rasmussen for going to University of the Pacific in California for swimming.

“There is a desperation from them now because they see the writing on the wall that they’re time is ending,” Klein said. “I just need our younger players to understand that there is urgency and they’re in desperation. It’s hard to replicate that, though, other than in a game where there are three minutes left. They have gotten better, but they’re definitely not where we want them to be, though.”

North Callaway plays at Sunnydale Adventist Academy in Centralia at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.