On Wednesday, the North Callaway girls scored three points in the first quarter. 

North Callaway vs Hallsville Photo Gallery

This followed a nine-point first quarter on Monday against Father Tolton in the Centralia Invitational first round. Unlike against Tolton, North Callaway’s offense improved to defeat Hallsville 42-30 to advance to the consolation championship game against Macon (2-4) at 5 p.m. Friday.

Head coach Andrew Klein said the offense has been a work in progress early in the season due to a new starting lineup and girls on the roster. Two freshmen started against Hallsville (0-4) and another freshman and sophomore came off the bench, but he said they all had good contributions in the program’s first victory against Hallsville since 2016 — snapping an eight-game losing streak against the Lady Indians.

“We’re learning to play with one another,” Klein said. “We’ve got a couple different sets we can run, but overall, we got a little more confidence when we saw the ball go through.”

Klein said it is important to the team’s success to see seniors and leading scorers Natalie Shryock and Lakyn Hartley hit shots. Shryock led North Callaway (2-3) with 10 points and eight rebounds, and Hartley had nine points and seven rebounds. 

After quite a few possessions where some bad passes led to turnovers, North Callaway started setting up shooters with wide open 3-pointers and girls cut to the rim for open layups. Freshman Sophie Olsson had nine points off the bench, and freshmen starters Livia Hartley and Anna Shryock each had five points.

“That takes pressure off some other girls to make shots when (the seniors) are making shots early,” Klein said. “That helps us flow through our offense and give confidence to other players.”

North Callaway didn’t lead in the game until after the final points of the second quarter when Natalie Shryock hit the team’s first 3-pointer. The Ladybirds led 16-15 at halftime.

The Ladybirds snatched away Hallsville’s lead going into the fourth quarter when Lakyn Hartley drained a 3-pointer from way beyond the arc in the final seconds of the third quarter. North Callaway had the lead to start the fourth quarter instead at 28-26.

“Lakyn hit one about 30 feet. We needed that big time to go into the fourth quarter up with a lead,” Klein said. “Momentum is a big part of this game. When we’re riding good momentum, we do good things.”

Hallsville never picked up momentum again after Hartley’s shot as her sister made a post-up bucket early in the fourth quarter and then Anna Shryock nailed a 3-pointer. Brianne Wildenhain had the Lady Indians’ only points about halfway through the third quarter on a 3-pointer that was banked in off the glass.

Klein said the defense accomplished things that lead to better offense. North Callaway’s fourth quarter was so much better than the 10-3 first quarter as the Ladybirds outscored Hallsville 14-4 in the fourth quarter.

“A good defensive position ends with a rebound,” Klein said. “We rebounded the ball well on the defensive end and that helped reward us for giving good defensive positions. We have given up a lot of offensive rebounds in our first few games. 

“The other part is we didn’t turn the ball over quite as much as we have in the past, which lets us set our defense. When our defense is set, it’s pretty hard to score against.”

North Callaway has faced and beaten Macon already this season in its opening game. The Ladybirds won 43-38 in the Gary Filbert Classic then, but Klein emphasized this is now.

“Both of our teams are a lot different than what they were three weeks ago,” Klein said. “It will be a lot different game probably with the game flow and stuff like that because we’re ready for each other.”