Tournament Photos

Van-Far comeback falls short 43-38 to North Callaway

The Van-Far girls just did't have enough late Wednesday night to close the comeback victory.

In the consolation semifinals of the Centralia Invitational Tournament, the Lady Indians lost to Eastern Missouri Conference foe North Callaway 43-38 despite mounting a 17-6 third-quarter onslaught. 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.

Jensen double-double not enough in Lady Indians' 66-20 loss to Centralia

The Centralia girls showcased the importance of sharing on the court Monday.

The Lady Panthers finished with 19 assists and 10 of their girls scored to defeat Van-Far 66-20 in the first round of the Centralia Invitational Tournament. Van-Far had another double-double performance from Mara Jensen at 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Carmen Wilburn scored the rest of the team’s points.

Centralia head coach Megan Brinkmann said the team has several girls who can impact the game, and it’s always nice when it has nights like Monday. Five Lady Panthers had scored by the end of the first quarter, and eight were on the scoreboard by halftime, when Centralia was ahead 44-10.

“I love watching everybody score,” Brinkmann said. “I thought we were passing the ball extremely well. We (always) have five girls on the floor who can score.”

Morgan Ross led Centralia (3-1) in scoring for the second straight game, tallying 16 points while knocking down two 3-pointers. Braylin Brunkhorst followed with 14 points, two 3-pointers and four steals, Raegan Anderson had 11 points and was 3-for-3 on 3-pointers, Shelby Lewis had five points and six rebounds, and Jozelynn Bostick added five assists, five rebounds and four steals. The Lady Panthers shot 7-for-12 from 3-point territory.

As Centralia’s lead grew, Jensen was active in the post, going against at least two Lady Panthers oftentimes as she was driving to the rim. She finished with points in every quarter except the fourth quarter, when the Lady Indians (1-3) were shut out. Wilburn gave Van-Far its first points not scored by Jensen at 2:46 left in the third quarter after hitting a free throw.

Van-Far head coach Heather Minter said the team has to push each other to be better. She said it’s early enough in the season that some girls could emerge in spots.

“I told the kids in the locker room we’ve got areas that we’re looking to fill that we’re not comfortable with,” Minter said. “Our younger kids are just going to have to start looking for minutes and pushing the older kids. Until we fill those other positions, our guard play is weak right now. We can’t rely on Carmen and Mara to win us games because it’s just not going to happen.”

Centralia began the game with an 8-0 run that was snapped by a Jensen fadeaway jumper before the Lady Panthers closed strong with a 19-6 lead after the first quarter.

The Lady Panthers put together their biggest run in the second quarter with 19 straight points. Whenever Centralia had the ball in transition, it was a smooth two of three passes before a Lady Panther was oftentimes open for layup. Ross reaped the benefits as she galloped down the floor, posting another leading performance after scoring 21 points against Marshall.

“We work a lot on that and talk about it a lot — getting the ball up the floor,” Brinkmann said. “We make good stuff happen out of it. The girls have been together for a long time now, and I feel like they know where each other is going to be.

“Morgan, you’ve got to find her. She’ll shoot, which is great, and I thought she got to the rim really well too. She can be a complete player.”

Van-Far was able to lob some passes over the Centralia defense to Jensen in the high post in the second quarter. Jensen continued to be a force in the post in the third quarter and presented a challenge for the Lady Panther defense.

“(Jensen) has a soft touch, and you can’t let her catch it around the basket,” Brinkmann said. “We tried fronting her and playing behind. Guarding really hard and making it hard to get that pass to Jensen — she scored some points, but overall I thought it was really well done. Harper Sontheimer and Kaelyn Walters both guarded her and did a good job.”

Minter said Van-Far does want its offense to be more than it was Monday night but needs to develop more scoring over time.

“Carmen knows her job is to take care of the ball, and we want to look at Mara as scoring,” Minter said. “We’re not going to be successful with just looking for Mara to score points all the time.”

Centralia had a 58-20 lead after the third quarter, which is when Katie Carrico scored on a transition layup to make her the ninth Lady Panther to score. Annaka Hombs became the 10th after making a free throw in the fourth quarter.

The freshman Brunkhorst upped her career-high after scoring 13 points against Marshall by knocking down a 3-pointer and taking a layup to the rim in the fourth quarter.

“I still think she’s trying to figure out the speed a little bit in the game,” Brinkmann said. “She’s someone who can also guard on defense and gives us a spark on offense so I’m glad to see she’s kind of breaking through it.”