MOKANE, Mo. - The New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats were able to adapt just enough to acquire a spot in the title game.
Senior forward Madison Love drove the lane and scored what proved to be the game-winner with less than 30 seconds to play as No. 2 seed New Bloomfield survived No. 3 New Haven's deliberate pace to escape with a 39-38 semifinal victory at the South Callaway Tournament on Wednesday night.
Junior guard Madi Craighead put the Lady Wildcats in position to pull off the dramatic win by burying a 3-pointer to tie the game at 37-all with a little more than a minute remaining.
"We played good defense and got a couple of stops (late in the game), and made a couple of big shots," New Bloomfield head coach Brett Craighead said. "I like that we never gave up.
"It was not the style of game we like to play - we like to go faster."
The Lady Wildcats (11-2) will seek their second tournament championship of the season - after winning at Tipton in December - when they confront top-seeded Hermann at 7 tonight. The tournament schedule at South Callaway was moved up to finish tonight ahead of a winter ice storm in the forecast for this weekend.
Hermann advanced to the title game with a 55-45 triumph over No. 5 seed South Callaway in Wednesday's other semifinal.
"We've got to hit some shots early to take the pressure off," Craighead said. "Hermann is big - their posts are big, their guards are big. Their size is going to give us fits and they play pretty good man defense.
"Hopefully we can get them spread out and use our quickness to get around them."
Wednesday night's semifinal was tight from start to finish. New Haven owned a narrow 9-8 lead after the first quarter and a slim 16-15 advantage at halftime. New Bloomfield outscored the Lady Shamrocks 15-13 in the third quarter and took a 30-29 edge into the last 8 minutes.
"New Haven comes down and they'll make a pass, make a pass and try to take minutes off the clock," Craighead said. "We tried to speed them up a couple of times, but we couldn't finish."
Madi Craighead logged 17 points to pace the Lady Wildcats, while sophomore center Samantha Haas supplied a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Baylee Garrett grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
Lauren Gerlemann topped New Haven with a game-high 19 points and Emily Scheer followed with 11.
The Lady Shamrocks will play South Callaway (9-5) for third place at 4 p.m. today in the high school.