New Bloomfield senior forward Ashley Kelley knocked down 25 points to power a balanced scoring attack as the Lady Wildcats toppled Belle in a 73-50 non-conference win Thursday night.
Kelley - burying seven 3-pointers - directed four players in double figures for New Bloomfield (6-2). The Lady Wildcats raced to a 17-5 lead after one quarter and took a 40-25 advantage into halftime. New Bloomfield then outscored the Lady Tigers 23-7 in the third quarter to open up a commanding 63-32 edge.
Senior center Zoe Welschmeyer chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds for the Lady Wildcats, while freshman guard Madi Craighead supplied 12 points. Senior forward Taylor Howard added 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
"Ashley is starting to get healthy and her shot's coming back, and it showed tonight," New Bloomfield head coach Brett Craighead said. "We also got some scoring from our two post players, Zoe and Taylor; we made a little more of an effort to try to get them the ball.
"We shared the ball well. We did a good job of hitting the open man."
New Bloomfield needed its quartet of double-digit scorers to offset a phenomenal effort by Lacey Clark, who was responsible for 43 of Belle's 50 points. Clark was 15-of-17 from the free-throw line.
"We got a little aggressive with her at times and fouled her," Craighead said. "She's a good player and she was hot."
The Lady Wildcats face Jamestown at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the National Guard Shootout at Jefferson City High School.