The North Callaway girls had plenty of extra possessions on Monday night.

North Callaway vs Van-Far Photo Gallery

The Ladybirds recorded 17 steals to defeat Eastern Missouri Conference foe Van-Far 55-46 on Monday night at home. Van-Far owned a 22-18 lead in the first half and was tied at 28 until North Callaway started pulling away.

North Callaway head coach Andrew Klein said Van-Far’s team full of sophomores presented more of a problem than when they were freshmen. There were 15 free throws attempted in the first quarter and the total was split between the teams. The Ladybirds (3-4, 1-1 EMO) used a 12-0 run from the end of the second quarter to early in the third quarter to gain an advantage.

“They’re still young,” Klein said. “This team is growing. It seems, game-by-game, they’re getting better. Luckily tonight, we were able to smother them on defense in the second half. Over the next couple years, I think they’re going to be a problem. We’ll take a win in conference when we can.”

North Callaway turned Van-Far (2-4, 0-1 EMO) over plenty, compared to the eight steals it picked up in the first half. In fact, the Ladybirds didn’t hold on to the ball that well in the first half with 11 turnovers.

Van-Far trailed by double digits during periods of the second half due to the mistakes but didn’t allow the lead to grow much beyond 12 points. The Lady Indians lost to North Callaway by double digits in both meetings but managed to come away with a nine-point loss after Khloe Wallace hit a 3-pointer near the end of the game.

“We want them to be upset that we’re not winning, but we don’t want them to beat themselves up,” Van-Far head coach Heather Minter said. “We’re in a marathon. From last year to this year, big-time growth. We competed and didn’t give up.”

Minter said she likes the direction Van-Far is going and thought the changes in practice helped the Lady Indians. 

“Instead of doing just drills and drills and drills, we’re doing a lot more scrimmaging and putting them in situations,” Minter said. “Our starting five, we’ll put them down by 10 or down by 12 and make them just work. We asked them if they thought that was helping or if we should go back to drills, and they said that helped them more.”

Van-Far made too many mistakes this particular night as the Lady Indians dribbled into traffic and lost control of the ball or just had the ball ripped away from them. Livia Hartley had four steals and Natalie Shryock, Sophie Olsson, Iceonna Tomlinson and Kymorie Myers each had three steals. Klein said those steals helped the offense as Shryock led North Callaway with 18 points and had six rebounds, Olsson had 12 points off the bench and Lakyn Hartley finished with seven points and five rebounds. 

“As games get closer, it gets harder to make plays,” Klein said. “We got four or five players that can get after it and get ball pressure.”

Olsson ripped the ball away from behind Keller and turned that into a layup at the other end as North Callaway was starting to build its run late in the second quarter. The Ladybirds converted on a Shryock 3-pointer and Tomlinson putback at the buzzer.

“She’s tough as she’s our leading rebounder at 5-foot-3,” Klein said. “She wants the ball. Defensively, she’s sliding her feet and doing a really good job. That’s the style of play we’ve got to continue to do.”

Elliott Utterback came in as Van-Far’s biggest scoring threat and showed why with 21 points and three 3-pointers. Even when Utterback was a few steps behind the arc, she was able of knocking shots down and hit one for a 22-18 Van-Far lead in the second quarter and then another to halt a 12-0 North Callaway run in the third quarter.

“From last year, she led us in all categories,” Minter said. “We know she’s going to be our leading scorer, but we also know teams are going to start taking her away. We’re talking to her, ‘Any type of separation you’ve got, shoot the ball. You’re a shooter.’”

Minter said Utterback can attract attention from defenses every night so having others able to step up and handle the ball will help. Trinity Skwirtz played some solid defense off the bench, Minter said, to provide some depth after Wallace encountered some sickness. Van-Far plays Brown County (out of Mt. Sterling, Ill.) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the John Wood Community College Rumble on the River in Quincy

“We’re still trying to figure out who we want to have the ball in the hands,” Minter said. “The more Elliott makes shots and is our leading scorer, the more they’re trying to take her away.”

Klein said North Callaway is taking good shots, rebounded well on the offensive glass and shot 12-of-15 on free throws. He doesn’t like how turnovers can derail those efforts and wants to be better before Thursday’s 7:15 p.m. conference game against Louisiana (1-3).

“We started the game with three straight turnovers,” Klein said. “It’s just something we’ve got to get better at, being more confident with the ball and helping our teammates out.”