Lady Wildcats fall prey to Pace, Tipton

New Bloomfield's season ends in District 8 title loss

RUSSELLVILLE - When senior forward Ashley Kelley flipped in the jumper in the lane, the New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats could see their chance coming into view.

New Bloomfield owned a 42-37 lead - and the momentum - over Tipton in the Class 2, District 8 girls' championship Friday night. The Lady Wildcats were just 7 minutes, 33 seconds away from returning to the state playoffs for a second straight year.

Then Ashton Pace intervened.

The senior forward was responsible for all but two points during Tipton's quick-burst 13-2 run over a 2:12 stretch midway through the fourth quarter, triggering the top-seeded Lady Cardinals' rally in a 66-55 victory over No. 2 New Bloomfield for the District 8 title.

"She's a good player; that's what she's done to us the last couple of times we've played her," Lady Wildcats head coach Brett Craighead said in simply summing up Pace's fourth-quarter performance.

Pace delivered 12 of her game-high 29 points over the last 8 minutes to send Tipton (28-1) - ranked fifth in the state - on to a Class 2 sectional Wednesday night in Jefferson City. The Lady Cardinals will face the winner of Saturday's District 7 championship between Harrisburg and Sweet Springs.

Meanwhile, New Bloomfield ended its season with a 22-6 record. The Lady Wildcats had previously lost to the Lady Cardinals 57-53 in the title game of the Tipton Tournament back in early December.

"Twenty wins, that's kind of everybody's goal," Craighead said. "Any time you can win 20 ballgames, you can't be dissatisfied with that. If you'd asked me at the beginning of the year, "Would you take 20 wins?', I'd say absolutely. They don't come around very often."

After Kelley's basket, the Lady Cardinals responded with five unanswered points and tied the game at 42-all on sophomore forward Alyson Brant's 3-pointer. New Bloomfield went back in front on its next trip down the floor when senior guard Sydni Bedsworth was fouled on a missed shot and made both free throws with 6:25 left.

That would turn out to be the Lady Wildcats' final lead.

Pace tied the game again with a turnaround jumper near the free-throw line on Tipton's next possession, then scored off a missed free throw to put the Lady Cardinals on top 46-44 at the 5:44 mark. She punctuated Tipton's pivotal run by converting a pair of free throws to make it 55-46 with 4:05 to play.

"She can go inside, then you have to guard her outside," Craighead said. "We tried to make her shoot that jump shot there at the elbow (of the free-throw line) because she was driving in on us, then she started hitting those.

"You've got to pick your poison."

New Bloomfield twice pulled within seven points with under 2 minutes to go, but the Lady Cardinals secured the District 8 title by knocking down 8-of-12 free throws down the stretch.

The Lady Wildcats were only down 23-19 at halftime despite making just 6-of-27 shots in the first half. New Bloomfield, though, calmed itself offensively at the outset of the third quarter and scored on its first four possessions - including three 3-pointers - to take the lead.

A Kelley 3-pointer topped off an 11-5 run to give the Lady Wildcats a 30-28 edge with 5:14 remaining in the quarter. However, Tipton countered with a 7-2 surge of its own, grabbing a 35-32 advantage when Pace scored and was fouled, but missed the free throw.

The Lady Wildcats erased the three-point deficit by ending the quarter with an 8-2 run over the final 2:02. Senior forward Taylor Howard drove the lane and her basket just beat the buzzer, sending New Bloomfield to the fourth quarter with a 40-37 lead.

"We just came out with a little more confidence," Craighead said of his squad's offensive revival. "Everything (shots) was short, early, and I think that's nerves.

"That's kind of the way it's been for us all year. We'll go through a spell where we can't hit, then we come out and hit everything. We're not doing anything different, we're just knocking shots down."

But just as the Lady Wildcats settled in with their stroke, it quickly vanished. After Kelley's 3 early in the final period made it a five-point game, New Bloomfield went almost 3 minutes without a basket.

"We had all of that momentum and we had a great third quarter," Craighead said. "We just couldn't carry it over there and I don't know what happened.

"... We were just about a couple of shots away from it not getting away from us."

Bedsworth and freshman guard Madi Craighead topped the Lady Wildcats with 13 points apiece, while Kelley added 11 before fouling out with :22 left. Howard also provided nine points.

"They're a great bunch of girls," Brett Craighead said. "They played hard and never gave up. You can't ask for any more than that."

Ryan Boland can be reached at (573) 826-2422, or by email at [email protected].