Ladybirds trip top seed Clopton, advance to title game at Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN - Senior guard Elaine Brinker made all eight of her free throws in the last 1 minute, 31 seconds Wednesday night as the No. 5 seed North Callaway Ladybirds toppled the No. 1 Clopton Lady Hawks 50-47 in the semifinals of the 90th-annual Bowling Green Tournament.

The Ladybirds (11-7) were down 34-32 to start the fourth quarter, but outscored the Lady Hawks 18-13 over the final 8 minutes to avenge a 50-36 Eastern Missouri Conference loss at Clopton (16-2) on Jan. 22. North Callaway will play either No. 2 seed Bowling Green or No. 3 Silex for the tournament championship at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Fueled by Brinker's 10-of-10 effort, the Ladybirds were 12-of-14 from the line in the fourth quarter Wednesday night. North Callaway converted 18-of-25 free throws overall.

Brinker directed the Ladybirds with a game-high 16 points, recorded seven assists and split the team rebounding lead with junior guard Erinn Bush, both with four. Freshman guard Kyla Bertschinger also registered eight points and four steals, while junior guard Skylar Schmauch hit a pair of critical 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with seven points.

"This was a great team victory against a really good basketball team," North Callaway head coach Matt Miller said. "We made shots when we needed to, especially from the free-throw line."

Lauren Lagemann topped Clopton with 14 points and Sabrina Stewart was next with 10.