The Louisiana Bulldogs, district champions a year ago, seemed to have everything on their side headed into Thursday night's Class 2 District 5 match-up against New Bloomfield. The Bulldogs returned most of last season's district title team, were the No. 1 seed and host team when No. 5 seeded New Bloomfield came to town on Thursday night.
"I think they underestimated us a bit because we were the 5 seed," New Bloomfield head coach Tyler Clark said. "But we it was do-or-die for us and they went out there and played hard."
That attitude was enough to carry the Wildcats to a 51-49 upset of Louisiana in the Class 2 District 5 semifinals. Louisiana (18-8) could never quite put distance between them and New Bloomfield (10-16), which got a game-high 22 points from senior forward Daniel Berry.
Berry, who missed nine games this season due to an ankle injury, led the Wildcats in points for a second straight game.
"Daniel Berry had a great game for us after having battled injuries this season," Clark said. "We struggled in the games that we didn't have him and he's such an emotional leader for us."
Guards Aarona and Greg Bedsworth were the only other Wildcat players in double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively in snapping Louisiana's six-game winning streak.
The Wildcats will take on No. 2 seeded Silex for the Class 2 District 5 championship at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Louisiana High School.
Centralia..................................................................................................59
North Callaway basketball (V/G).............................................................38
CENTRALIA - Despite surrendering 19 offensive rebounds in the first half, the Ladybirds found themselves down only two points at halftime to No. 2 seeded Centralia in the semifinals of the Class 3 District 8 tournament on Wednesday. At 22-20 going into halftime, North Callaway felt good about their ability to stay within striking distance of a team that had beaten them by 33 points in their last meeting on Dec. 8.
However, it didn't last long. Centralia outscored North Callaway 19-9 in the third quarter and 37-18 in the entire second half on its way to win. Centralia (12-13) got a game-high 15 points from Jennifer Mills, one of three players for her team in double figures. Kaitly Armontrout added 11 and Rachel Etzler had 10.
For North Callaway, senior guard Kelsey West led the Ladybirds with 11 points in the final game of her career. Fellow senior, forward Morgan Brown Emmons had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds for North Callaway, who finished the season at 8-15. Centralia plays top seeded Hallsville for the district title on Saturday night at 8 p.m.