MOKANE - The No. 2 seed Hermann Lady Bearcats made their free throws in outscoring the No. 3 New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats 11-2 in the final 2 minutes of Wednesday night's 63-53 semifinal win at the South Callaway Invitational Tournament.
New Bloomfield (11-3) was in catch-up mode throughout the contest, trailing 17-11 after one quarter and 31-21 at halftime. The Lady Wildcats outscored Hermann 18-14 in the third quarter to close within 45-39 and scrambled to cut their deficit to 52-51 late in the game, but the Lady Bearcats clinched the victory at the foul line.
"We didn't give up, we just kind of ran out of gas," New Bloomfield head coach Brett Craighead said Thursday night. "I was pleased that the girls didn't quit."
Junior forward Madison Love registered 15 points to steer four players in double figures for the Lady Wildcats. Junior guard Kate Baxter was next with 13 points, sophomore guard Madi Craighead tallied 11 and junior guard Baylee Garrett finished with 10.
Tess Schannuth countered with a game-high 18 points to lead four players in double figures for Hermann. Allison Stiers posted 16 points, Brooke Grosse contributed 12 and Cameron Hackmann had 11.
"Their size really hurt us in the first half and they took it to us inside," Brett Craighead said. "We weren't used to that and it made things difficult."
New Bloomfield will now face No. 4 seed South Callaway for third place at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs lost to top-seeded Owensville 69-45 in Wednesday night's other semifinal.
"We'll have to play mistake-free and take advantage of our opportunities on offense," Craighead said. "This is one of those rivalry games so you never know what's going to happen."