Boys’ defense just enough in 52-49 win vs South Callaway, Thunderbirds take third place

The sequel between the North Callaway boys and South Callaway on Saturday was more interesting.

There was more at stake in the second meeting between the Callaway County schools as North Callaway won 52-49 to earn the third-place trophy in the South Callaway Varsity Tournament. After South Callaway cut its deficit to 45-44 on a Dane Daugherty 3-pointer with 3:25 left in the game, the Thunderbirds’ defense held firm.

Head coach Matt Miller said he knew South Callaway (7-8) would be tougher than North Callaway’s initial 52-43 victory earlier this season at home. When the Bulldogs knocked down shots late, including Daugherty’s two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, Miller said playing more flawlessly was important.

“Our focus was to continue to play really good defense and get stops,” Miller said. “Offensively, don’t throw it away, don’t turn it over and don’t take bad shots. You can still be aggressive and still score, but it’s got to be something inside at the rim or whenever we’re shooting free throws.”

Miller acknowledged the Thunderbirds (8-6) weren’t as careful with the ball as they should have been during parts of the game, but they came through on late possessions to edge out a rival for the victory. 

Braydn O’Neal attacked the rim for a layup following the North Callaway timeout and then knocked down a 3-pointer when he was found wide open on the wing, making it 50-44 with 1:41 left. O’Neal led the team with 14 points, six assists, four steals and two 3-pointers while also guarding South Callaway’s best player Tayber Gray and not coming off the floor once for the second straight game — the last being Thursday against Montgomery County.

“He played great defense on their best player, and he’s really what makes us go,” Miller said. “I know it doesn’t seem like that since he doesn’t score a whole lot, but tonight, he did. He showed what he can do when he’s aggressive and shoots the ball with confidence.”

Miller said this performance from his point guard was needed as South Callaway paid special attention to the team’s leading scorers in Matthew Weber and Sam Pezold — who had eight points and nine points and three steals, respectively  — and the team’s next leading scorer in Isiah Craighead has been unavailable all week because of a concussion. 

Despite all that, Miller said the team had a few players come through when called upon like Trenton Jones, who had a team-high seven rebounds before fouling out and has had a good last week or two scoring. Gavin Rasmussen sank four free throws as part of six points along with three assists and three steals off the bench, and Aidan Martin had eight points and seven rebounds in his first career varsity start.

“(Martin) had been having a great week of practice,” Miller said. “I thought he was playing really good this week, and I rewarded him in the starting lineup tonight. He responded and played really well in big moments.”

North Callaway was ahead 12-4 following a 7-0 run in the first quarter that was erased by an Adam Loucks offensive putback. North Callaway held a 14-11 lead going into the second quarter, when Gray started to heat up after a scoreless first quarter. He scored on a layup and nailed a 3-pointer that preceded the Thunderbirds holding a 27-22 halftime lead.

Gray finished with a game-high 15 points and two 3-pointers, Loucks had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, Daugherty finished with 10 points, and Ryan Lepper had six points and four steals. 

Gray and Lepper made the all-tournament team along with Weber, who averaged 18 points in the three games. For North Callaway’s defense, Miller said Gray was a focus as O’Neal had the primary duties on him, but others helped out especially when Gray touched the ball.

“In games like this, (O’Neal) stays on the floor the whole time,” Miller said. “He did a great job on him, and they’re hard to guard anyway. Coach (Seth) Thomas does a great job with his team spreading the floor out, getting their guards downhill attacking, and passing it to shooters in the corner. We did as well as we could and could have done a little better in spots.”

Martin closed the third quarter with a 3-point play and a 39-35 North Callaway lead, going into a fourth quarter constantly halted by timeouts. South Callaway was within one point in the third quarter and was that close again at the 3:25 mark of the fourth quarter.

After Lepper scored after his steal on the defensive end and Loucks sank one of two free throws, North Callaway held tightly to a 50-49 lead with 23.2 seconds left. That turned into a three-point lead after a pair of free throws from Weber.

“The first half, we had way too many turnovers. There were guys trying to do too much,” Miller said. “We made plays when we needed to. In that last minute, we kept getting stops and that was really key.

North Callaway has Fayette and Wellsville-Middletown at home the following Monday and Tuesday prior to a road game against Clopton. Miller said he is glad the Thunderbirds could win third place in a “tough” tournament.

“The game went about exactly as I thought it was going to be and envisioned,” Miller said. “We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game down to the last minute. I told the boys (Friday) in practice, ‘Just because we beat them last week and things like that, it’s not a movie. You watch the same movie over and over and the ending is always the same. This ending is going to be a lot different.’”

Girls overtaken in final three quarters vs Russellville, lose South Callaway tournament consolation 59-55

The first quarter Friday night between the North Callaway girls and Russellville wasn’t indicative of the type of game ahead.

In the fifth-place game of the South Callaway Varsity Tournament, the Ladybirds led 20-11 after a first quarter that saw them drop four 3-pointers but were overtaken in the third quarter and eventually lost 59-55. 

Russellville’s Camie Grayson scored nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter, and Ella Volkart gave the Lady Indians 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second and third quarters off the bench. 

Head coach Tim Turlington said the first quarter went well as North Callaway (9-7) was finding the open spots in Russellville’s 1-3-1 zone defense. After the Lady Indians (6-8) incorporated more man defense, North Callaway managed to hit six more 3-pointers in the final three quarters, but Russellville made it a closer contest.

“We played really well (in the first quarter),” Turlington said. “From then on, it was a fight. They were up a little and we were up a little. It was back-and-forth, back-and-forth.”

Natalie Shryock led the team with 18 points and four 3-pointers, Riley Blevins finished with 10 points and two 3-pointers, and Lakyn Hartley added eight points and two 3-pointers off the bench. 

Blevins led the team with six assists and did a nice job penetrating the defense to find the Ladybird shooters on the perimeter as did several other players that finished with multiple assists like Shryock, Abrielle Burgher and Faith Cash.

Turlington said the team expected Russellville to switch up its defensive look to adjust to North Callaway’s hot start, but the Ladybirds just didn’t execute the man defense as well as they have like was the case against Linn earlier in the tournament.

“They sprinkled in a little man,” Turlington said. “We were ready for that and knew it was coming. I don’t think we were as clean in our man offense as we needed to be and have been throughout the last month. We have been running some good stuff and girls have been executing.

“We were just not seeing what we needed to see. We were having a little timing problem  and weren’t moving as well as we needed to execute what we were doing.”

Grayson was the only dependable Lady Indian scorer in the first quarter while North Callaway was able to find five scorers in the opening eight minutes. That changed when Russellville brought in its strong bench combination of Volkart, Jenna Schulte and Hallee Stewart. 

Schulte had five of her 11 points in the first quarter and then Volkart and Stewart propped up Russellville as Volkart had six points and Stewart pulled down three rebounds in the second quarter. North Callaway had to work with a three-point halftime lead then at 26-23.

Volkart struck with a little more than two minutes gone in the third quarter, nailing the first 3-pointer of her three in the eight minutes to give Russellville its first lead. Blevins responded at the other end with a 3-pointer and then Schulte ripped the lead right back to Russellville with a shot from deep, making it 32-31.

North Callaway took the 41-40 lead into the fourth quarter thanks to 3-pointers from Cash and Shryock and then the Ladybirds ran into some foul trouble.

“It’s something we talk a lot about with defense is early fouls can hurt you later in a game because it puts them in the bonus,” Turlington said. “So now, midway through the fourth, they’re shooting one-and-ones because we fouled them several times. That’s easy opportunities right there. When you’re trying to come back, you can’t put people on the line for free throws. That’s a lesson we got to learn and move on.”

Grayson and Volkart scored in the fastbreak for a 6-0 Russellville run that put North Callaway in a tough position, down 52-44 with 3:41 remaining in the fourth quarter. Hartley knocked down a 3-pointer earlier in the game to hold Russellville at bay in the second quarter — making it 26-19 at the time — and she hit another that followed a Burgher layup and preceded two free throws from Blevins. After that sequence, North Callaway trailed 52-51 with 1:37 left.

Schulte hit a 3-pointer and Grayson ran behind the North Callaway defense for the easy fastbreak layup to add just enough distance for the victory. Turlington said the Ladybirds will be fine and need to consider Friday as “a blip on the radar” before playing three games the following week — Monday and Tuesday home games against Fayette and Wellsville-Middletown and a road contest Thursday at Clopton.

“I think the girls showed a lot of heart because we were down and out twice and came back,” Turlington said. “We just came up short tonight. We need to take this as a lesson that we have to play a certain way and have expectations of certain things and we have to rise up to those things and play a certain way.”

Thunderbirds' cold start turns into 57-45 loss to Montgomery County

The North Callaway boys were in a rough position from the get-go Thursday night at the South Callaway Varsity Tournament.

The Thunderbirds lost their semifinal match against Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County 57-45, making it the second time they have dropped a game against their conference foe. North Callaway (7-6) scored four points in the first quarter to fall behind 11-4 early in the game.

In the first meeting against the Wildcats (9-5), North Callaway had a better start — 16-12 first quarter — but went cold in the next eight minutes, being outscored 21-9. Head coach Matt Miller said he hopes his team can be consistent from the field throughout the game because Thursday’s initial cold spell made it tougher against an already challenging opponent. The Thunderbirds trailed 24-18 at halftime and then 42-33 after the third quarter.

“We couldn’t find the bottom of the hole in the first quarter,” Miller said. “We kept on playing good defense that got us back in the game. After being behind, we actually cut it to one point in the second half, but we just couldn’t get it over the hump to get the lead.”

North Callaway did a nice job defensively guarding Montgomery big man Clayton Parker, who regularly scores at least 20 points, as he finished with 12 points and fouled out with six minutes left in the game. Isaiah Thomas matched his total with 12 points, but Zak Rodgers gave the Wildcats a lift off the bench, scoring 11 points and hitting three 3-pointers.

Matthew Weber led North Callaway with 23 points despite not scoring in the first quarter, Trenton Jones dealt with Parker on defense and finished with nine points and seven rebounds, and Sam Pezold had four steals and three assists along with four points.

North Callaway has another rematch for third place in the tournament as it faces South Callaway (7-7) at 2:30 p.m. today at the high school gym. The Thunderbirds won the first meeting this season 53-42.

Ladybirds defeat scrappier South Callaway 41-17

It wasn’t as easy as last time for the North Callaway girls on Wednesday in the South Callaway Varsity Tournament.

The Ladybirds had its best offensive game of the season in a 73-10 victory against South Callaway a week prior but endured through a 41-17 win to advance to the fifth-place game at 6 p.m. Friday against Russellville (5-8) at the high school.

Head coach Tim Turlington said North Callaway (9-6) played well on the defensive end but so did South Callaway (0-10). The Lady Bulldogs were glued to the Ladybirds’ best shooters and didn’t lose a quarter by a single-digit margin after North Callaway took a 16-5 lead after the first quarter.

Lakyn Hartley picked up the scoring slack off the bench for North Callaway with 12 points alongside eight rebounds and four steals. Riley Blevins had one 3-pointer but affected the game with five assists and four steals, and Abrielle Burgher finished with a team-high six rebounds. 

Reagan Arrowood led South Callaway with six points.

Thunderbirds force mistakes early in 72-38 win vs Calvary Lutheran

The North Callaway boys started their South Callaway Varsity Tournament strong on Tuesday and need to maintain that going forward.

Prior to facing Eastern Missouri Conference foe Montgomery County again on Thursday, the Thunderbirds defeated Calvary Lutheran 72-38 as they were led by a pair of 20-point games from Matthew Weber and Sam Pezold.

Weber finished with 23 points, four steals and three assists, and Sam Pezold followed with 22 points, seven steals and three assists. Trenton Jones recorded his first double-double as well, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds along with four blocks. 

Calvary Lutheran (6-4) was led by Kyle Hagemeyer’s 16 points and Kwesi Hall’s 12 points.

Head coach Matt Miller said North Callaway (7-5) had open layups and was able to give several bench players minutes. That all started with the Thunderbirds’ defense.

“Our defense was the difference in the game, forcing them into 18 turnovers,” Miller said.

The Thunderbirds took a 20-8 lead after the first quarter, a 40-21 halftime lead and then had a 57-29 advantage after three quarters.

North Callaway faces Montgomery County (8-5) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the high school. The Thunderbirds lost 51-48 at Montgomery County in December.

Ladybirds miss opportunities in 53-45 loss to Linn

The North Callaway girls opened the South Callaway Varsity Tournament wondering what could have been.

The Ladybirds lost to Linn 53-45 in overtime after the Lady Wildcats roared back in the second half after trailing North Callaway 27-15 at halftime. 

Head coach Tim Turlington said North Callaway had shots it could’ve made but wasn’t able to come away with a victory after Linn forced overtime, turning the tables on the Ladybirds with a 27-15 second half. 

“We had our chances in both halves, and in the second half, we had so many chances but couldn’t take advantage of it,” Turlington said. “Give Linn credit. They never quit.”

Natalie Shryock finished with a game-high 22 points, five 3-pointers, five rebounds and three assists, Riley Blevins followed with nine points, four steals, and three 3-pointers, and Ellie Bedsworth had a team-high six rebounds. 

Linn was led by the Hostetlers as Kiana had 19 points and Aushara followed with 12 points.

Turlington said Linn was more physical than North Callaway, which also made a difference along with the Ladybirds not finishing with more than seven 2-pointers — less than the team’s nine 3-pointers — and scoring three points in the overtime period.

North Callaway (8-6) faces South Callaway (0-9) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the middle school. 

Look for updates from the tournament as they become available.