With its once-comfortable lead shrinking, the New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats had to endure some high anxiety.
No. 2 seed New Bloomfield owned a 15-point advantage to open the fourth quarter, but the Lady Wildcats were outscored by the No. 4 North Callaway Ladybirds 17-4 over the last 8 minutes before hanging on for a narrow 48-46 win in the championship of the South Callaway Invitational Tournament on Saturday night.
New Bloomfield led 29-19 at halftime and seemed to be in control when it took a 44-29 lead into the fourth quarter. However, offense became hard to come by for the Lady Wildcats, who also hit only 2-of-14 free throws during that span.
North Callaway had three shots in the final 7 seconds to either pull out a dramatic victory or force overtime, but all three were off the mark. New Bloomfield senior forward Taylor Howard was fouled after the last miss, but couldn't knock down a pair of free throws with :01.8 to play.
Ladybirds senior guard Elaine Brinker came up with the rebound and hurled a desperation 3-pointer about three-quarters the length of the court. The shot skipped off the rim as time ran out, allowing the Lady Wildcats to escape with the title.
"If we hit half those shots (free throws), it's a different result at the end," New Bloomfield head coach Brett Craighead said. "North Callaway's momentum is different and we don't have to tighten up like we did."
In the process of capturing the championship, the Lady Wildcats (13-2) extended their winning streak to 10 games.
"It's nice for the girls to get the benefits from all of their hard work," Craighead said.
Senior forward Ashley Kelley tallied a game-high 16 points to direct New Bloomfield, followed by Howard with 12. Both Kelley and Howard were selected to the all-tournament first team.
Freshman guard Madi Craighead was next with nine points for the Lady Wildcats and senior center Zoe Welschmeyer contributed eight.
"The first three quarters were probably the best we've played all season," Brett Craighead said. "Offensively, we were moving the ball and hitting open shots."
Meanwhile, New Bloomfield held North Callaway to a dismal 17-percent shooting performance (5-of-30) in the first half. The Ladybirds shot just 31 percent (18-of-59) for the game, including a lackluster 20 percent (4-of-20) from 3-point range.
"We contained them and got a hand in their face," Craighead said. "Our emphasis was to limit them to one shot."
Brinker - named the tournament most valuable player - paced North Callaway with 15 points, six assists and five steals. The Ladybirds, committing 12 of their 14 turnovers in the first half, had their five-game winning streak halted in slipping to 9-6 on the season.
Junior guard Maddie Ausfahl came off the bench to deliver 10 points, five steals and five rebounds for North Callaway, while freshman guard Kyla Bertschinger - making the all-tournament second team - chipped in with eight points. Junior guard Erinn Bush grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
"When you commit that many turnovers (in the first half) against a good team like New Bloomfield, you're not going to win many times," Ladybirds head coach Matt Miller said. "We had our chances - even in the first half - if our shots had been falling, but they just didn't go in."
Sophomore forward Konnor Arrowood was also a second-team all-tournament choice for No. 6 seed South Callaway (9-4), which took fifth place with a 44-28 triumph over No. 8 Russellville last Friday night.
North Callaway travels to Clopton for an Eastern Missouri Conference game at 6 p.m. Thursday.