No. 9 Lady Wildcats live up to seed, win Sturgeon Tournament

New Bloomfield prevails behind free-throw shooting in fourth quarter

The state-ranked New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats showed they were deserving of the premier billing.

New Bloomfield displayed a cool resolve down the stretch, making its free throws while outscoring Community R-6 18-5 in the fourth quarter as the top-seeded Lady Wildcats secured the title of the 31st-annual Sturgeon Tournament with a 58-45 win late Friday night.

Bestowed with its first-ever tournament No. 1 seed in Brett Craighead's eight years as head coach, New Bloomfield brought home the Sturgeon championship for the first time since 1991. The Lady Wildcats - ranked No. 9 in Class 2 - are now 17-3 overall.

New Bloomfield also added its second title of the season after winning the South Callaway Tournament in January.

"Knowing how to win big games - the situation and the pressure - is going to help us come district tournament time," Craighead said Saturday morning. "I was curious as to how we would respond (to being top seed), but the girls did a good job.

"It probably wasn't our best tournament because we had to overcome some bad shooting nights and everybody gunning for us, but the girls responded and I'm proud of them."

The Lady Wildcats went into halftime with a 24-20 edge, but were outscored by Community 20-16 in the third quarter. New Bloomfield was able to tie the game at 40-all as the period ended when sophomore forward Madison Love broke free behind the Lady Trojans' fullcourt pressure for a layup just before the buzzer sounded.

The Lady Wildcats then locked up the championship at the foul line over the final 8 minutes, connecting on 14-of-16 free throws. Senior forward Taylor Howard was 8-of-8 in the quarter and freshman guard Madi Craighead made 5-of-6 attempts.

"We got a little lead and they had to foul, and we just put the game away at the free-throw line," Brett Craighead said.

Madi Craighead logged 18 points to guide New Bloomfield, while Howard finished with 16. Love, senior center Zoe Welschmeyer and senior guard Sydni Bedsworth chipped in with six points apiece.

Howard also pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds and Craighead grabbed nine.

"When we got down in the third quarter, the girls were never shook or rattled," Brett Craighead said. "They kept playing."

Sam Jett erupted for a game-high 29 points - including 16 in the third quarter - to pace Community. The Lady Wildcats bottled up Jett with a box-and-one defense in the fourth quarter and limited her to a lone point.

"They didn't have time to adjust," Craighead said. "Her teammates were still looking for her, but they couldn't get her the ball."

Alissa Curtis also provided 11 points for the Lady Trojans.

New Bloomfield returns to Show-Me Conference play when it travels to South Callaway at 6 p.m. Tuesday.