North Callaway’s offense in the first quarter on Friday wasn’t going to win a trophy.

North Callaway vs Winfield Photo Gallery

The Ladybirds improved on the scoring end to defeat Class 4 Winfield 47-41 in the Bowling Green Tournament fifth-place game to win a consolation trophy at the tournament for the second straight season. They trailed 15-7 after one but then outscored Winfield in every quarter after that. 

North Callaway (8-8) lost to Winfield (7-9) in the first round a year ago to force them into the consolation bracket. After losing 56-43 to Louisiana in the first round this year and then beating Van-Far 40-33, head coach Andrew Klein said the Ladybirds forced their way to a victory.

“We are just trying to play a little bit more physical and be tougher with the basketball,” Klein said. “I think it showed. It wears teams out, and it gives us open looks later on.”

Klein said North Callaway scored some buckets inside by driving to the rim and that helped the Ladybirds knock down six of their seven 3-pointers in the second half. Natalie Shryock accounted for four of those 3-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter, to finish with a team-high 12 points. Lakyn Hartley also led with 12 points and had four steals and three assists, Livia Hartley had 10 points, and Kymorie Myers finished with seven points and four rebounds.

Lakyn Hartley said the offense was “slow” in the first quarter and needed to open up the scoring in some way. Hartley was at the center of North Callaway’s efforts of driving to the rim as the Ladybirds came out of the third quarter with a 30-29 lead, partially due to a couple of her inside buckets.

“They switched up their defense a little bit so we were expecting them to play a 2-3 man a little bit,” Hartley said. “We knew what to expect, but we were able to take it to the rim and put some points on the board.”

North Callaway couldn’t muster much offense in the first quarter because many possessions ended with a turnover. The Ladybirds took away the transition scoring option for Winfield starting with the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Warriors 11-4 in the eight minutes, and finished tied with Winfield at 15 turnovers each.

Klein said North Callaway “adjusted to the pace” of the trophy game and also adjusted well to Winfield’s defense. Winfield’s Olivia Van Cleave came away with a couple steals along with finishing with a game-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Claire Showmake followed with six points and eight rebounds. 

“Trusting one another to make the next play is what helped us to break the press a few times and score off of it,” Klein said. “They pulled off the press and gave us an opportunity to work on our offense in the half court.”

Van Cleave hit all three of her 3-pointers in the second half, and as has been the case many times before, North Callaway had an answer on the perimeter. Shryock rained down 3-pointers to help give the Ladybirds the edge in a fourth quarter that saw some ties. Along with her four steals, Sophie Olsson hit a 3-pointer in the second half and Myers hit only her second 3-pointer of the season, according to Klein. 

“It’s the team around (Shryock) creating,” Klein said. “With Nat, she sees one go down, she’s going to see a few more.”

Those shots aren’t set up without the efforts of players like Lakyn Hartley, Klein said. Hartley had a solid all-around game in the previous round’s victory against Van-Far as well, finishing with 11 points, six rebounds and four steals.

“She’s doing a really good job of playing for others in there,” Klein said. “When teams don’t help, then she is looking to score. Our focal point has been trying to get two feet in the lane so we can create for others. Lakyn did a really good job of making the decision to either pass it out or go score.”

North Callaway plays at Eastern Missouri Conference foe Elsberry (7-9, 2-3 EMO) at 6 p.m. tonight in the second game of four straight road games.

“We just wanted to focus on being tough and playing solid and as a team,” Hartley said. “We did well doing that and got a trophy out of it.”