Cody Vandelicht and Troy Hentges mirrored each other with complementary halves of strong offense to keep the South Callaway Bulldogs' surge on track.
Vandelicht, a senior forward, connected for 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half to help carry South Callaway to a 49-43 win over the North Callaway Thunderbirds on Friday night.
Hentges was the Bulldogs' primary offensive source in the first half, putting up 13 of his 16 points during that span - including three 3-pointers - but the contest was still even at 23-all at the break. Vandelicht then tallied eight of South Callaway's 10 points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs took a slim 33-31 edge into the final 8 minutes.
South Callaway (7-2) outscored North Callaway 16-12 in the fourth quarter to preserve the narrow victory, its fourth straight.
Centralia 41
New Bloomfield 34
NEW BLOOMFIELD - Fatigue bit the Wildcats in the fourth quarter as they were outscored by the Panthers 9-5 in Friday night's non-conference loss.
The game was tied at 10-all after one quarter and New Bloomfield went into halftime with a slight 19-18 advantage. Centralia then outscored the Wildcats 14-10 in the third quarter to go in front 32-29, and exhaustion dragged New Bloomfield down in the fourth quarter.
"Centralia is very large and they play physical - because they're a football school - and we struggle with physicality," Wildcats head coach Tim Gilmore said. "We were so focused ... and had to work so hard defensively that I think our legs got to us and we struggled on offense (in the fourth quarter)."
Girls' basketball
St. Elizabeth 51
New Bloomfield 37
NEW BLOOMFIELD - The Lady Wildcats tumbled in their Show-Me Conference opener after being outscored by the Lady Hornets 19-5 in the third quarter Friday night.
New Bloomfield was only down 12-10 after one quarter and 24-19 at halftime, but St. Elizabeth leaned on its decisive outburst in the third quarter to widen its lead to 43-24 going into the fourth period.
"They picked up their defense a little bit (in the third quarter), but we just missed some easy chip shots," Lady Wildcats head coach Brett Craighead said. "They also beat us down the floor a couple of times on fast breaks."
Senior guard Bethany Craighead posted 10 points as the lone player to make it into double figures for New Bloomfield (5-4). Junior center Zoe Welschmeyer contributed nine points and junior guard Sydni Bedsworth had eight.