The North Callaway girls basketball team has proven to be a stout defensive team as they were a year ago.

During the summer, the Ladybirds played in shootouts at Higbee, Montgomery County and Community R-6. On June 23, they were at Community R-6 High School in Laddonia, stifling the offenses of Sturgeon and Pilot Grove by keeping them around 10 points in two 16-minute running halves.

Head coach Tim Turlington said North Callaway played well June 23 despite the shooting being inconsistent. The Ladybirds had the same problem a season ago, when they allowed 41.3 points per game and scored 41 points per game. Still, Turlington said the summer has been the perfect opportunity to give the younger girls some playing time.

“This whole summer has been getting a lot of the younger girls time and experience,” Turlington said. “We didn’t really have a full JV season, which is nobody’s fault because of teams with COVID and some teams not having JV and on and on. They missed out. They only played like four or five true games — two-quarter games here and there.”

Missing out on so much playing time means the younger Ladybirds haven’t been able to get used to the speed of the game found at the varsity level so playing up to that level during shootouts in the summer has made a difference, Turlington said.

“They’re doing everything I would like them to do,” Turlington said “It’s gone pretty good.”

With North Callaway’s remaining games, it played June 28 at Community R-6 against the Lady Trojans and Eastern Missouri Conference foes Wellsville-Middletown and Silex, Turlington said the opportunity for the girls to play together means it’s the perfect time to start developing chemistry.

“This is going to be a fun group to watch, a fun group to play together and coach for me,” Turlington said. “I'm very excited for the season coming up. I like what we have. I really do. I like it a lot.”