Lady Wildcats hold off Vienna, reach title game at Jamestown

Senior guard Elizabeth Clark hit two clinching free throws with 6 seconds to play Thursday night as the No. 3 seed New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats fended off No. 2 Vienna 58-55 at the Jamestown Tournament.

New Bloomfield led by 12 points at halftime, but Vienna outscored the Lady Wildcats 16-9 in the third quarter to close within 45-40. The Lady Eagles then rallied to take a 52-50 lead with less than 2 minutes to play, but New Bloomfield countered with six unanswered points to go back in front.

Vienna then connected on a 3-pointer to close within 56-55, setting up Clark's free throws as the Lady Wildcats went 2-0 in their tournament pool.

New Bloomfield (2-2) will now go up against No. 1 Chamois for the tournament championship at 8 p.m. Saturday.

"This helps our confidence tremendously," Lady Wildcats head coach Brett Craighead said. "The girls are starting to understand what we're trying to get accomplished."

New Bloomfield jumped out to an 18-6 lead after one quarter and carried a 36-24 advantage into halftime.

"We got off to a good start," Craighead said. "Our ball movement (in the first quarter) was excellent. I don't know how many times we had backdoor cuts for layups.

"When we're hitting shots, we're pretty good."

Junior forward Chelsea Wiler delivered a game-high 23 points and also had eight rebounds and five assists to pace the Lady Wildcats. Clark provided 12 points and senior forward Amanda Howard contributed eight points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Lacey James led Vienna with 16 points and Kaitlyn Meier tallied 14.

New Haven..................................46

South Callaway basketball (VG)...37

MOKANE - The Lady Bulldogs tumbled to 0-5 on the season after Thursday night's nine-point setback against the Lady Shamrocks.

Freshman guard Taylor Howard topped South Callaway with 13 points and sophomore guard Jenna Boulger added eight.

"(New Haven) just executed a little better than we did," Lady Bulldogs head coach Doug Sain said. "I thought our girls did a nice job of playing hard until the very end."

South Callaway lost the junior varsity game 15-8 in two quarters. Freshman guard Maddie Neal finished with a team-high five points.

The Lady Bulldogs travel to Fatima at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Higbee.........................................44

MSD basketball (VG).....................4

Junior center Evelyn Terrell and freshman guard Andrea Crouch both had two points to account for the host Lady Eagles' scoring in Tuesday night's loss.

Terrell and Crouch pulled down three rebounds apiece for Missouri School for the Deaf (0-5).

Lori Dillion paced Higbee with a game-high 17 points.

The Lady Eagles were coming off a 36-4 loss at Community R-6 on Monday night. Terrell and freshman forward Odalis Araujo finished with two points apiece.

Amelia Knipfel and EmmaLee McCoskey tallied nine points each to guide Community R-6.

MSD faces Kansas School for the Deaf (10 a.m.) and Iowa School for the Deaf (6 p.m.) on Saturday in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The Lady Eagles will be looking to avenge a 27-2 loss to KSD on Dec. 3 at Olathe, Kan. MSD also bowed to Oklahoma School for the Deaf 38-5 on Dec. 4 at Olathe.

"Each game we are getting a little better and gaining a better understanding of the game," Lady Eagles head coach Laura Smith said. "Several of our shots have been close and just not fallen.

"We hope to start gelling better soon and give the other teams a more competitive game."

Centralia......................................23

S. Callaway basketball (7th/B).....19

AUXVASSE - The Bulldogs were outscored by the Panthers 10-2 in the third quarter Wednesday night at the North Callaway Tournament.

North Callaway was only down 9-8 at halftime, but Centralia pushed its lead to 19-10 going into the fourth quarter.

Brandon Ward topped the Bulldogs (5-7) with eight points, followed by Logan Taylor and Mason Shoemaker with four apiece. Jackson Glover added three points to round out South Callaway's scoring.

The Bulldogs square off against Montgomery County for third place tonight.