T-Birds squander late lead in Russellville loss

The North Callaway Thunderbirds allowed an eight-point, fourth-quarter lead to slip out of their grasp in a 45-42 loss to the Russellville Indians on Tuesday night.

North Callaway led 42-41 with 1 minute, 1 second to play, but missed a shot and Russellville answered with a basket on its next possession to go in front to stay.

The Thunderbirds (4-10) shot just 37 percent (19-of-51) in losing to the Indians for the second time this season. North Callaway took a narrow 20-19 lead into halftime and was up 32-28 to start the fourth quarter.

Senior forward Andrew Attebery finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to pace the Thunderbirds, while sophomore forward Zac Eads chipped in with eight points. Junior guard Zack Lavy also handed out eight assists.

"Defensively, we played well, but our offense was anemic," North Callaway head coach Tim Turlington said.

Levi Kehr connected for a game-high 19 points to lead Russellville, while Rusty Calvin contributed 15.

Led by sophomore guard Jacob Haubner's 16 points, the Thunderbirds (4-4) won the junior varsity game 43-26.

The North Callaway boys and girls will travel to Ashland today for makeup games against Mid-Missouri Conference foe Southern Boone. The junior varsity girls will play first at 4:30 p.m., followed by the junior varsity boys, then the varsity boys at 7:30 and the varsity girls at 9.

All four games will be played at the high school.

N. Bloomfield basketball (VG)...40

Westran.......................................25

STURGEON - The defensive-minded Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Hornets 25-14 in the second half of Monday night's first-round win at the Sturgeon Tournament.

No. 4 seed New Bloomfield was only up 15-11 at halftime, but outscored No. 5 Westran 13-6 in the third quarter to increase its lead to 28-17. The Lady Wildcats then outscored the Lady Hornets 12-8 in the fourth quarter to put the finishing touches on the victory.

"I thought our defense was pretty good," New Bloomfield head coach Brett Craighead said. "We got a hand up on shooters and we did a good job of blocking out.

"We didn't create a lot of turnovers out of our press, but we slowed (Westran) down quite a bit."

Senior guard Elizabeth Clark tallied a game-high 14 points to direct the Lady Wildcats (7-9), while senior guard Sarah Moore and senior forward Amanda Howard provided seven apiece. Howard also pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.

"We were very patient on offense in the second half, and when we got a little lead we became even more patient," Craighead said. "I felt like if we had the ball, they couldn't score."

Sam Gwinner topped the Lady Hornets with 10 points.

New Bloomfield now moves on to a semifinal matchup against top-seeded Sturgeon - ranked No. 10 in Class 2 - at 6 tonight. The Lady Bulldogs advanced with a 50-31 triumph over No. 8 seed South Callaway in Monday night's late first-round game.

"(Sturgeon) is not real big, but they're pretty physical and they're fairly quick," Craighead said. "We'll have to block off on the boards; they're good about throwing the ball inside and then going to the boards hard."

St. Albans...............................26

MSD basketball (VG).............12

Playing for the first time since suffering a leg injury, junior guard Kiara Kennedy recorded four points, 10 steals and nine rebounds in the Lady Eagles' homecoming loss Saturday night.

Junior center Evelyn Terrell added four points and five rebounds for Missouri School for the Deaf, while freshman guard Courtney McCarty finished with two points, four rebounds and three steals.

Junior forward Lindsey Painter also had two points, a rebound and a steal.

MSD hosted Columbia Independent on Tuesday night. Results were not available at press time.

Moberly..................................60

Fulton basketball (9th/B).......44

The Hornets tumbled to 4-9 on the season after Monday night's 16-point loss to the Spartans at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.

Kegan Lee connected for 16 points to guide Fulton, while Xavier Hamilton contributed 12.

The Hornets travel to Columbia to square off against Oakland Junior at 6 p.m. Thursday.