Tournament Photos

North Callaway closes out 40-30 win vs Macon with Blevins back on floor

In case it wasn’t clear before, Riley Blevins plays an important role for the North Callaway girls.

The Ladybirds’ offense ran smoother Friday during their 40-30 victory against Macon (3-3) in the fifth-place game of the Centralia Invitational Tournament. Blevins was back in the point guard position after taking a game off for personal reasons and led all scorers with 14 points, three rebounds, three steals, three 3-pointers and two blocks off the bench.

Head coach Tim Turlington said Blevins is like the team’s quarterback as she runs the offense to where North Callaway (3-3) has the least amount of mistakes.

“She gets us into stuff we need to get into,” Turlington said. “The other guards we have, they did a good job and I’m not saying anything bad about them, but Riley’s our point guard. When you don’t have your point guard, you don’t have your quarterback.”

Blevins fit the quarterback comparison perfectly in some moments, including when she heaved an assist from half court to the open Natalie Shryock — who finished with eight points and three assists — for a 3-pointer just before the end of the first quarter. 

“It’s something we talk about, especially on a diagonal, when we’re going down and fastbreaking,” Turlington said. “We hit Natalie and everybody that was open.”

The Ladybirds owned a 13-7 lead after one quarter prior to Blevins scoring seven points to help North Callaway build a 26-12 halftime lead. The Ladybirds mounted a 13-0 run after Reece Barnett hit Macon’s lone 3-pointer in the first half to close the second quarter strong.

Macon’s shooters were kept to three 3-pointers despite owning a reputation for being dangerous from the perimeter. Turlington said his defense did well closing out on the shooters and nullifying that part of the Tigerettes’ offense.

“They shoot the 3 well, and we took that away from them for the most part,” Turlington said. “We really did a good job running them off the line — not get beat on the drive, help out, recover. We did that. We were sticky and really sticky in the first half.”

Ella Barnett was the Tigerette to knock down a 3-pointer in each of the final two quarters, but the Ladybirds were still stingy on the open looks and captured many of the rebounds to help seal the game. Ellie Bedsworth grabbed the offensive rebound before putting it back for North Callaway’s largest lead at 31-17 with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter.

Lakyn Hartley started for the second straight game instead of Blevins and led the Ladybirds with four rebounds Friday along with Lauren Riecke, who grabbed four off the bench. Jalyn Leible added another three boards as part of a balanced rebounding effort for North Callaway.

“Jalyn came in and got some boards for us. She’s always a good rebounder and played defense well,” Turlington said. “Ellie came in there and did a really good job, especially the last two minutes. She got some critical rebounds. Lakyn again was our leading rebounder as she was against Van-Far.”

Turlington added sophomores Lia Bondurant and Faith Cash gave North Callaway solid minutes off the bench as Bondurant notched a couple rebounds and Cash hit a couple more jumpshots when the opportunities were presented.

Barnett hitting a 3-pointer cut the North Callaway lead to nine about halfway through the fourth quarter, but that was only the case for a second as Blevins responded with a 3-pointer on the other end to push the margin up to double digits permanently. 

The Ladybirds were on the receiving end of three straight losses to Macon in the Centralia tournament in three of the previous five seasons — more than 50 points were allowed in all three losses. The victory gives them its first win against the Tigerettes since a 38-33 game in the 2013 Centralia tournament. 

Turlington said coming away with fifth place and two wins in a competitive tournament like Centralia’s is a good way to close out the week until North Callaway (0-1 EMO) hosts Eastern Missouri Conference foe Van-Far (1-4, 0-1 EMO) at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

“It was a tough tournament with good teams, and we really played well tonight (Friday),” Turlington said. “We played OK against Van-Far, but we really played well tonight.”

Shryock was announced after the game as a member of the all-tournament team after averaging 12.3 points in three games. Reece Barnett made the team for Macon.

Ladybirds hold off Van-Far 43-38 to advance

Maintaining adequate breathing room proved difficult for the North Callaway girls late Wednesday night.

In the consolation semifinals of the Centralia Invitational Tournament, the Ladybirds defeated Eastern Missouri Conference foe Van-Far 43-38, surviving a 17-6 third-quarter onslaught from the Lady Indians. Van-Far (1-4) trailed by one point in the fourth quarter, but 3-pointers and free throws down the stretch were enough to eliminate Van-Far and send the Ladybirds (2-3) to a 5 p.m. Friday game against Macon (3-2), who defeated Boonville 51-45 on Wednesday.

North Callaway head coach Tim Turlington said he was thankful that the Ladybirds built a 14-point cushion in a 23-9 halftime lead. Turlington said he thinks North Callaway wanted to win and stay in the tournament so bad that the mistakes started piling up.

“I think, in their heads, they wanted to win, so we started playing careful — both ends of the floor — not wanting to make a mistake,” Turlington said. “Therefore, we made all the mistakes we could make and let them back in it.”
Van-Far head coach Heather Minter said the Lady Indians played like they were capable in the second half, and all it took was to trust each other.

“The difference is, we settled down and they did what they were supposed to do,” Minter said. “The only way we are going to get good is we have to learn to trust each other and grow. It's tough, but I know we have it in us.”

Shryock scoring 11 of her team-high 19 points in the first half helped build North Callaway’s halftime lead and her two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter gave the Ladybirds a 37-32 lead with almost two minutes left. She also finished with eight rebounds and two steals.

Faith Cash had 12 points off the bench, including two free throws in the fourth quarter that pushed North Callaway to a 42-36 lead with 11 seconds remaining in the game. Abrielle Burgher had six points and five rebounds, with all of her points happening in the fourth quarter. Ellie Bedsworth led the team with six rebounds, pulling down most of them in the fourth quarter to prevent Van-Far from gaining possessions and giving North Callaway a 34-25 rebound advantage.

North Callaway was down one Ladybird as reigning all-conference and all-district point guard Riley Blevins was unavailable due to personal reasons, altering North Callaway’s offense where Lakyn Hartley had the start and Cash played more minutes. Turlington admitted, despite working without Blevins in practice, the offense’s timing was still “broke a lot of times,” but the girls made the necessary plays when they mattered.

“I had a sophomore, Faith Cash, step in and cash in two free throws at the end to seal the deal,” Turlington said. “That was good for her because she works so freakin’ hard, and she did a really good job tonight at both ends of the floor.”

Minter said other Ladybirds stepping up filled in n for the Blevins absence, which Van-Far didn’t know about until gametime. She said the Lady Indians were focused on Shryock but lost her too many times.

“We wanted to contain Natalie, but she was still able to get points,” Minter said. “My kids are learning, but we have a lot of work to do.”

For Van-Far, Mara Jensen recorded her third double-double in five games, finishing with 27 points and 15 rebounds along with five steals. McKenna Engh-Hoffman followed with six points and nine rebounds, and Carmen Wilburn had three points and three steals.

Turlington said Jensen was clearly a problem but thought his girls did a nice job defending her. North Callaway will have to defend her again Monday when the Ladybirds host Van-Far in a conference matchup.

Jensen carried the Van-Far offense again with her footwork in the paint as he had all of its points when it trails 9-6 after the first quarter and eight of them when North Callaway took its halftime lead.

The third quarter started with the Lady Indians scoring the first two buckets and snowballed until a 17-2 run gave them its first lead at 26-25. Engh-Hoffman secured an offensive rebound before putting it back for a 3-point play and then the next bucket by Jensen gave the lead that immediately disappeared after Shryock scored at the other end.

“We went through periods tonight where we did struggle a little bit, but overall, we shot much better than we have the past two games,” Turlington said. 

North Callaway's empty trips difference in 45-32 loss to Harrisburg

The North Callaway girls’ defense rose to the challenge against a state-caliber offense Monday, but the offense couldn’t keep up.

The Ladybirds faced Harrisburg on Monday in the first round of the Centralia Invitational Tournament, losing 45-32. The Lady Bulldogs were averaging 63.5 points through four games and have received votes in the Class 2 state poll but were held to less than 50 points for the first time this season. North Callaway, however, finished 26 percent from the field and had a cold streak to start the fourth quarter.

Head coach Tim Turlington said North Callaway (1-3) was in it for much of the game as the Ladybirds were within five points in the second quarter and then were down only two points in the third quarter, but poor shooting allowed Harrisburg (5-0) to gain firm control.

“We went cold,” Turlington said. “We probably went six or seven empty trips (in a row). That was it. You can’t do that. It’s not like we’re taking bad shots. It’s just not going down. A lot of stuff around the crease but just not finishing.”

Natalie Shryock led North Callaway with 10 points, six rebounds and two 3-pointers, Riley Blevins had nine points on three 3-pointers along with two steals, and Abrielle Burgher finished with seven points — all in the second half — and seven rebounds.

The biggest problem on Harrisburg’s side for the Ladybirds was Carli Ellis as she recorded a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds while blocking seven shots. Brecca Thornhill followed with 11 points and five steals, and Abby Rosson had six points and six rebounds.

Turlington said Ellis was clearly a problem for the Ladybirds when they drove to the rim most of the time, but they need to adjust accordingly.

“(Ellis) is a good player, but we’re taking it in there kind of easy — not really planting our feet, get our hips under us, follow through, and stuff like that,” Turlington said. “We’re playing around the rim. What we thought she was going to block affected us a lot. We just have to be more solid around the basket.”

Harrisburg scored some early transition buckets before capping the first quarter with a buzzer beater from Ellis, making it 14-6 Harrisburg after one.

North Callaway started making more of a dent into the Lady Bulldogs’ lead in the second quarter when it hit a bit of a hot streak from beyond the arc. Shryock and Blevins combined to knock down three straight 3-pointers to bring the Ladybirds within five points with about three minutes left in the quarter.

The lead was cut to two points in the third quarter after Burgher showed that aggressiveness at the rim Turlington was referring to as she converted on two layups in traffic.

“AB saw some stuff tonight that we talk to her about all the time,” Turlington said. “I tell her to shoot more — always telling her to shoot more because she can shoot it. For some reason, she just doesn’t have that confidence in herself at this time. I’ve got confidence in her so it’s good to see her go to the rack and get some buckets. Hopefully, that will kickstart her play from there.”

Harrisburg did find some clutch plays in the third quarter to ward off the comeback as Macie Ellis knocked down a 3-pointer, Thornhill scored off her steal and Carli Ellis split the Ladybird rebounders for an offensive putback to help give Harrisburg a 33-26 lead after three quarters.

Ellis began picking up the blocks in bunches in the fourth quarter, and North Callaway was scoreless through the first three minutes. Blevins broke up the cold streak with a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound and assist from Shryock. Harrisburg, though, was ahead 40-29 at that point.

“It wasn’t that (Harrisburg) was scoring at a great clip, but they would score a bucket here and a bucket there,” Turlington said. “They just built, and we didn’t.”