Ladybirds let lead slip by late, lose 46-44 to Hallsville

The lead for the North Callaway girls bent during Thursday night’s game but didn’t break until late.

North Callaway girls, boys vs Hallsville Photo Gallery

The Ladybirds led Class 4 Hallsville until the final two minutes when Delaney Crocker nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 42 and then Haley Martin and Clara Quintana found open lanes to the rim for layups to stun North Callaway 46-44. There were 14 seconds left after Quintana’s go-ahead layup, but the Ladybirds’ last-chance 3-pointer fell short.

Hallsville kept eating away at North Callaway’s lead until it was down to four points several times and even as few as two points. The last big blow by the Ladybirds (6-4) was when Natalie Shryock — who had 13 points, four 3-pointers and two blocks — hit her fourth 3-pointer of the game to make it 42-35 with a little more than four minutes left in the game, but that was when head coach Andrew Klein said the Lady Indians (4-5) shined better.

“They made more plays than us down the stretch," Klein said. "They shot a high percentage from the field because they got good looks in the middle. We just didn't do a good job stopping the penetration."

Post players Quintana and Emily Stockcamp poured in 20 points and 12 points, respectively, as they helped Hallsville outrebound North Callaway 28-22 and grab 13 offensive rebounds. A defensive rebound set up the Lady Indians to quickly advance down the floor before Quintana cut to the rim for a layup. 

Klein said it was clear where Hallsville’s points were coming from after one half, when North Callaway led 26-20, since Quintana and Stockcamp combined for 14 points. He said the Ladybirds need to take this opportunity to learn about themselves and adjust before facing more competition.

“We went to front them in the second half, but we just didn’t do a good job sliding our feet.” Klein said. “It’s really easy to go around us, and a lot of teams have exploited us doing that. We’re just going to have to get better at that because teams will take advantage of that.”

Klein said North Callaway’s 2-3 zone designed to keep opponents out of the paint needs some work before the Ladybirds return at 4 p.m. Dec. 28 at Sturgeon (5-4).

When the Ladybirds were leading, they were able to cut through Hallsville’s zone as well and find girls cutting to the rim for easy layups. Riley Blevins — who finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three 3-pointers — lobbed a pass to Lia Bondurant on one of these plays to push Hallsville back a bit for a 35-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“They’re good basketball players,” Klein said. “You can have plays, but a lot of things break down when the defense has to pressure. They did a good job on that.”

Abrielle Burgher cut to the rim to finish with eight points and took some free throws in the fourth quarter along with Shryock and Lakyn Hartley. 

Blevins did drive to the rim as she usually does but resembled a post player at times as she posted up, not seeming afraid of contact.

“She can score from all levels, and she has some really good looks,” Klein said. “We’re happy with her getting the ball in the post or outside. Tonight, we needed her in the post, and she did a good job.”

Thursday’s loss made it eight straight losses to Hallsville, but it was also the closest a Ladybirds team has come to defeating the Lady Indians since North Callaway 59-52 in 2016. The North Callaway girls program hasn’t defeated Hallsville in Kingdom City since a 38-35 victory in 2013.

Knowing how close the game was to a win and that North Callaway found an open look in the corner for Faith Cash, Klein said the Ladybirds can still feel good about themselves.

“We shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves,” Klein said. “We know what we got to get better at, shots will fall and we’re still a really tough team to beat.”

Early barrage sinks Thunderbirds 77-47 against Hallsville

Another night, another first quarter unkind to the North Callaway boys.

After allowing 22 points in the first quarter to Eastern Missouri Conference and district foe Montgomery County in a loss Tuesday night, the Thunderbirds hosted Class 4 No. 10 Hallsville and had eight 3-pointers rain down in a 36-point first quarter that preceded a 77-47 loss. It was the second time North Callaway lost to the Indians this season — 10th straight loss to Hallsville — as there was a 72-32 defeat in the first meeting.

Name a player on Hallsville’s roster, and there was a good chance to hit at least one 3-pointer because North Callaway (3-6) allowed 13 from beyond the arc spread amongst eight different Indians. Eight of them fell in the first quarter, with five coming from Hallsville’s bench. However, head coach Matt Miller said the 31-12 rebounding advantage in favor of Hallsville indicates how the Indians want to score quickly.

“We wanted to try to use a ball-control offense, but we took way too many quick, rushed, contested jumpshots," Miller said. "Against a team like that, it's as good as a turnover."

Zach Jouret nailed three 3-pointers and led Hallsville (8-1) with 15 points, Isaac Stinson followed with 12 points, Cameron Cox had 10 points, and Xavier Stinson finished with nine points. North Callaway countered with Isiah Craighead’s 18 points and Sam Pezold’s 16 points, five steals and four 3-pointers.

Miller said even if it was obvious to pay more attention to shooters after the early barrage from the outside, Hallsville has players like the Stinsons to go to inside. Isaac Stinson hurt the Thunderbirds in the second quarter with eight points, maintaining Hallsville’s 19-point lead into halftime despite not hitting one 3-pointer in the second quarter.

“They want to play that frantic pace,” Miller said. “They want to try to put 100 points on you. They do a good job defensively as well, making us shoot the ball as quickly as possible. If threes aren’t there, they attack the rim.”

Simulating Hallsville in practice is really difficult, Miller said, and that made the progress in practice before not translate to the game. Part of that is inexperience from North Callaway’s roster but also due to what Hallsville brings.

“If we could simulate, we’d be doing what they do,” Miller said. “They’re one of the most aggressive, quickest teams across the board we’ll face all year. They just come at you in waves. They’ll sub four guys at a time and five guys at a time.”

Miller said the ball security was better as it was the quick transitioning off of rebounds that hurt the Thunderbirds more than turnovers, unlike the first meeting. 

Isiah Craighead also became heavily acquainted with the free-throw line, shooting 8-for-10 from the line from the second quarter on. During Hallsville’s early outside shooting binge, Pezold was there at the other end with a 3-pointer of his own, hitting all of them in the first half and knocking down three in the first quarter. After those seniors, Levi Drake was the next leading scorer at six points, which is the season average of the third-best scorer and senior Paul Russell.

“We got to get some other guys involved,” Miller said. “It comes to reps in practice, confidence, getting in the gym and things like that. Guys have to get more confidence and trust in their abilities because we’ve got guys that can do it.”

Miller said he didn’t see many discouraged faces in the locker room after the game after two big losses at home in the same week. Those losses happened against teams with a combined record of 16-4 so Miller said the best North Callaway can do is learn from the challenging opportunities and take it to the next game at 8 p.m. Jan. 2 at South Callaway (4-4).

“We lost a couple, but we’re not down,” Miller said. “That’s an awesome locker room with awesome kids with great attitudes. They’re heads were held high in that locker room after the game. There wasn’t anybody pouting or pointing fingers or feeling sorry for themselves. These games this week are going to make us better, and we have a whole lot of winnable games coming up after Christmas.”