North Callaway junior guard Elaine Brinker was "phenomenal" in the words of her coach Matt Miller, totaling a game-high 32 points and distributing five assists in the Ladybirds' 51-42 victory over rival South Callaway on Thursday night.
North Callaway (18-6) owned a 26-10 lead at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs offense came to life after halftime. The Lady Bulldogs (10-12) hit four of their five 3-pointers in the third and trimmed their deficit down to three. They'd outscore the Ladybirds 20-12 to trail 38-30 at the start of the fourth.
North Callaway let a nine-point lead slip away in the final eight minutes of Wednesday's Eastern Missouri Conference loss at Bowling Green and Miller hoped lightning would strike two times in as many days.
"...Last night it was the same position where the snowball happened, but this time, we came together as a team and said "not again,'" Miller said. "I guess sometimes you have to go through games like last night to get through tonight."
Fulton 49
Hannibal 41
Sophomore forward NaShayla Brandt led the Lady Hornets' charge with 20 points in Fulton's North Central Missouri Conference win over the Hannibal Lady Pirates on Thursday night at Roger D. Davis Gymnasium.
The Lady Hornets finished the first quarter down 18-6, but they were sat down during a timeout by head coach TJ Quick with about a minute left in the frame for, what Quick called, a "heart-to-heart."
"We came out kind of flat and Hannibal came out ready to go and was hitting everything," Quick said. "We're down by 10, down by 12 and it looked like it was going to get out of hand."
Boys' basketball
New Bloomfield 65
St. Elizabeth 19
NEW BLOOMFIELD - Senior guard Justus Zumbehl logged a game-high 13 points in the Wildcats' dismantling of Show-Me Conference opponent St. Elizabeth on Thursday night.
New Bloomfield (9-13, 3-4) already had a commanding 31-14 lead at halftime, but then stretched that out by outscoring St. Elizabeth 27-0 in the third quarter.
"The big thing here - and all teams are probably thinking this - is getting momentum and trying to make a run in districts," Wildcats head coach Tim Gilmore said. "The small things are going to make the biggest difference if you're going to make a run in the postseason and that helped us make a run in the third quarter."
Junior forward Brady Wiler supplied nine points for New Bloomfield.
College
Women's basketball
Westminster 59
Webster 56
Sophomore point guard Mackenzie Haddox supplied team highs of 17 points and eight rebounds as the Lady Blue Jays outlasted St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Webster in their home finale Wednesday night.
Westminster (12-11, 10-7) trailed the Lady Gorloks 35-25 at halftime. The deficit reached 11 early in the second half and the Lady Blue Jays were behind 48-38 with 8 minutes, 59 seconds remaining. Westminster scored nine in a row to draw within a point then tied the game at 51-all on a pair of free throws from freshman forward Andrea Zalis with 3:36 left.
Senior guard Leigh Ann Lutz picked up a steal on Webster's ensuing possession and fed the ball to Haddox, who knocked down the go-ahead jumper with 3:13 to go.
The Lady Gorloks tied the game back up at 55-all on Ashley Brooks' free throws with :49 remaining, but Lutz was fouled on the Lady Blue Jays' next possession and connected on a pair from the line to put Westminster up for good.
William Woods 85
Benedictine-Springfield 47
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Sophomore guard Veronica Jones registered a career-high 15 points as the Lady Owls rolled to an American Midwest Conference win over the Benedictine Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday night.
William Woods (18-8, 11-7) controlled the game from the start and jumped out to a 47-16 halftime advantage.
Senior forward Stephanie Copelin totaled 11 points while sophomore Kendra Vernatti added 10 for the Lady Owls as they finished the game at 49 percent from the field (33-of-68). William Woods outrebounded the Lady Bulldogs 60-41.
Men's basketball
Webster 78
Westminster 72
The Blue Jays couldn't slow down the hot-shooting Gorloks, dropping their SLIAC home finale on Wednesday night.
Westminster trailed 38-36 with 2 minutes, 42 seconds left in the first half, but a 9-0 Webster half-closing run made it a 47-36 game at intermission. The Blue Jays converted 43 percent from the field in the first half, but the Gorloks countered that with a 66 percent shooting clip of its own in the first frame.
Webster pushed the margin out as wide as 14 points twice in the second half, but Westminster whittled that down to two points when senior guard Joe James hit two free throws with :22 remaining to make it 74-72. The Gorloks hit four consecutive from the free throw line in the game's final moments.
James tied for the game high with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting while handing out five assists. Senior guard Jordan Jones added 17 points and junior guards Verdis Lee Jr (Fulton) and Brandon Moore scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Blue Jays shot 43 percent from the field (25-of-58), but were outrebounded 37-26.
Benedictine-Springfield 94
William Woods 80
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Owls trailed 42-41 at halftime, but were outscored 52-39 in the second half as they fell to the Benedictine-Springfield Bulldogs in American Midwest Conference play on Tuesday night.
Senior guard Blake Burgess guided William Woods with 19 points while fellow senior guard Jonathon Nutt added 13 as the Owls finished 33 percent (31-of-79) from the floor.
Thomas Dillard sparked Benedictine with a game-high 34 points to lead four other Bulldogs in double figures. Nick Bennett had 21 points, Myles Harrell and Justin Smith scored 14 and 13 points, respectively and Marvin Leveille added 12.
Benedictine shot 51 percent from the field (30-of-59) and outrebounded the Owls 42-40.