The Lady Wildcats stayed unbeaten in the Show-Me Conference and won their seventh straight with a dogged defensive presence in Thursday night's 47-39 victory over the Lady Eagles.
New Bloomfield (10-2, 3-0 SMC) carried a narrow 24-23 edge into halftime, but outscored Eugene 12-3 in the third quarter to establish a 36-26 lead.
"Our defense was exceptional; I thought it kept us in the game," Lady Wildcats head coach Brett Craighead said. "They (Lady Eagles) like to shoot a lot of 3(-pointer)s, but we made them work for everything they got."
Senior forward Ashley Kelley sparked New Bloomfield with a game-high 13 points, followed by freshman guard Madi Craighead's 12. Senior forward Taylor Howard added seven points and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
"We didn't shoot the ball well, but we made some good runs and maintained our momentum," Brett Craighead said.
Allison Isenberg topped Eugene with 11 points and Katelyn Engelbrecht provided 10.
The Lady Wildcats (5-0) prevailed in the junior varsity contest 28-21. Sophomore guard Baylee Garrett tallied a team-high nine points and sophomore forward Rylee Rackers contributed eight.
New Bloomfield - drawing the second seed - meets No. 7 Montgomery County at 6 p.m. Monday in the first round of the South Callaway Invitational Tournament. The game will be played at the high school.