NC girls stays in front most of game, falling late to Hallsville – Fulton Sun

Today at 4:00 a.m.
by Robby Campbell
KINGDOM CITY — The North Callaway Ladybirds were in front from early in the first quarter until the second to last possession of the game, with their defensive and offensive inefficiencies inside key in them losing Thursday at North Callaway High School.
“Hallsville was a little bit tougher than us tonight, but they got a lot of clean, easy looks,” North Callaway girls basketball coach Andrew Klein said. “So it’s frustrating, but the girls know that, and they shouldn’t be too hard on themselves. Hallsville’s a bigger school, and we got to build on it, though. We just got to build on it. We need some grit. Our girls did play well, though, but they were a little stagnant on offense. But again, that’s something I’m working with, just cutting hard and stuff like that.”
Heading into this week, North Callaway was on a five-game winning streak, and then it lost both games this week, dropping the second 46-44 to Hallsville in the Ladybirds’ final home game of 2023.
North Callaway knocked down eight 3s to the Lady Indians’ three, integral in it staying in the lead most of the time.
“It’s something that we pride ourselves in,” Klein said of North Callaway’s 3-point shooting. “But ultimately, we got to pride ourselves in defense because defense matters more, and the girls know that. That’s what I’ve been preaching. If we can’t get stops, we can’t beat teams because the ball is not always gonna go in the hoop for us.”
However, the Ladybirds were outrebounded 28-23 (13-9 in offensive rebounds) by Hallsville, with the Lady Indians’ Clara Quintana collecting their final board and scoring an end-to-end layup to conclude the scoring and put them ahead 46-44.
Before Hallsville (4-5) did what it excelled at to win the game, North Callaway (6-4) did what it executed well, 3-point shooting, to take the first lead.
Receiving a pass from Natalie Shryock, Riley Blevins drained a right corner 3 to give the Ladybirds a 3-0 lead on the game’s first possession.
On Hallsville’s first drive, it crashed the glass for two offensive boards before Quintana hit a layup to make it a one-point game (3-2).
Quintana liked pulling down offensive rebounds, so she did it again twice on the Lady Indians’ next possession, getting a putback to fall to put Hallsville ahead 4-3.
Back came North Callaway’s 3-point shooting, with Lakyn Hartley landing a triple after faking a dribble to give the Ladybirds a 6-4 advantage.
Emily Stockcamp answered for the Lady Indians, scoring a layup to tie it at 6.
The back-and-forth exchanging of leads and a tie stopped after Natalie Shryock sank a left corner 3 from an Abrielle Burgher assist to hand North Callaway a 9-6 lead, which it kept until the final seconds of the fourth quarter.
Blevins’ three layups accounted for the rest of the Ladybirds’ points in the first quarter, as North Callaway led 15-10.
Burgher got on the score column, opening the Ladybirds’ second-quarter offense with a layup from a Shryock assist to increase NC’s lead to seven (17-10).
The Lady Indians went on a 5-0 run, with Stockcamp’s floater inside cutting it to a two-point contest (17-15).
As she’s done many times this season, Blevins converted a critical shot, swishing a 3-pointer from a Shryock assist to increase North Callaway’s lead to five (20-15).
Shryock and Blevins flipped roles on the next drive, with Shryock hitting a 3 off a Blevins pass to put it at 23-15 Ladybirds.
Hallsville buckled down defensively to ensure North Callaway didn’t go up by double digits, and the Lady Indians decided to do what the Ladybirds liked.
Trailing 24-17, Hallsville’s Haley Martin drained a 3 from a throw-in to bring it to a three-point game (24-20).
Finishing the first-half offense, Burgher made a layup to make it 26-20 North Callaway at halftime.
Starting the second half how they wanted, the Ladybirds stayed on top for the entire third quarter.
Shryock and Blevins each recorded a 3, with Blevins’ shot from deep giving NC its largest lead of the third quarter at nine points (33-24).
Lia Bondurant became the fifth Ladybird to score, converting a layup provided by Blevins. That was the final bucket of the third quarter, and like it was at halftime, North Callaway led by six points (35-29).
While Hallsville eventually came back in the fourth quarter, the Lady Indians struggled to make their shots after scoring two layups to start the fourth.
Lady Indians fouls let the Ladybirds stay in front, and when Shryock hit North Callaway’s first 3 of the fourth quarter, the Ladybirds extended their lead to seven points (42-35) — their largest in the fourth.
As soon as North Callaway furthered its advantage, Hallsville evaporated it.
To do that, Hallsville scored in three straight possessions: Quintana made a layup, Stockcamp scored a putback — on her second offensive rebound of the drive — and DeLaney Crocker got a 3 to fall to tie it at 42 with just over two minutes left.
Finally, the Ladybirds scored when Burgher converted the second of two free throws on NC’s drive after Crocker’s triple, giving North Callaway a 43-42 advantage.
Still up by one point, North Callaway took a 3 on its next possession and missed it as Martin rebounded it for Hallsville.
Luckily for the Ladybirds, the Lady Indians turned it over, and North Callaway called a timeout with 1:11 left to talk things over.
Hallsville fouled Shryock after the break, and she went 1-2 from the line to put it at 44-42 Ladybirds.
That’s the last time North Callaway was in front.
Doing what they executed well at all game, the Lady Indians’ Quintana evened the score with a layup, pulled down a defensive rebound and dribbled down the court before landing her end-to-end game-deciding layup.
Yet again, Blevins played the Ladybirds’ best all-around game, notching a team-high 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Not looking like her usual self against Montgomery County (had five points), Shrock did Thursday, registering 13 points, including four 3s.
North Callaway’s two all-district players may be the ones showing up most statistically, but Klein was pleased with Burgher’s performance; she had eight points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal.
“Abrielle Burgher…that’s the one I really want to shout out,” Klein said. “She was amazing on defense, and so we got to find a way to get her to guard everybody. Again, she’s a really good defender. She did a really good job against an all-state Montgomery (County) point guard (Malia Rodgers), and she did an equally as good a job today. Unfortunately, the posts were the ones that got us.”
Taller than any of the Ladybirds, Hallsville’s Quintana scored a game-high 20 points while Stockcamp had 12 — the pair combined to make 16 buckets inside.
“They’re good players, and they got to their spots and can make good layups,” Klein said. “They didn’t shoot very many other shots, other than close range, so gotta protect the paint a little bit better on defense.”
The only girls basketball team in Callaway County to play between Christmas and New Year’s Day, North Callaway faces Sturgeon (5-4) at 4 p.m. next Thursday at Sturgeon High School. It’ll be the first meeting between the teams since the 62nd Annual Centralia Invitational third-place game on Dec. 8, 2017, which North Callaway won 48-47.
“We’re definitely not gonna take Sturgeon too lightly because they played close with Hallsville, and we just lost to Hallsville,” Klein said. “So we got to take that as a must-win and a culture win, based off defense. We’re definitely gonna go in there and be active and not be comfortable or easy on defense. We got to be hard on defense and be intentional about what we’re doing.”
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