MOKANE, Mo. - The fifth-seeded South Callaway Lady Bulldogs were doomed by a slow start and lost to the No. 3 New Haven Lady Shamrocks in the third-place game of the South Callaway Tournament on Thursday night.
South Callaway (9-6) trailed 15-5 after the first quarter and was down 28-11 at halftime.
"It was a disappointing loss for us," Lady Bulldogs head coach Darren Humphrey said. "This was the second game that we came out flat and fell behind early on. Our shots weren't falling in the first half and New Haven couldn't miss."
The Lady Bulldogs outscored New Haven 12-4 in the third quarter to pull within 32-23. The Lady Shamrocks, though, sealed the win by outscoring South Callaway 16-7 over the last 8 minutes.
"Once again, we made a short run in the third quarter, holding them to only four points, but failed to finish out the game by keeping that momentum on our side," Humphrey said.
Junior guard Adrian Mann, named to the all-tournament first team, directed the Lady Bulldogs with 11 points.
Sophomore Lauren Gerlemann - who averaged 22 points per game coming into Thursday night - and senior Emily Scheer paced New Haven with 11 points apiece.
South Callaway played for third place after falling to the top-seeded Hermann Lady Bearcats 55-45 in the semifinals Wednesday night.
Hermann raced to a 20-6 lead after the first quarter and controlled a 36-23 advantage at halftime. The Lady Bearcats outscored the Lady Bulldogs 12-9 in the third quarter to maintain a 48-32 lead.
"We came out in the first quarter and had trouble getting good looks at the basket," Humphrey said. "Hermann is a large, athletic team with an abundance of speed within their guards. A team with that combination is hard to break down defensively and hard to take advantage of on the offensive end."
Mann surpassed 1,000 career points as she made 12-of-14 free throws to lead South Callaway with 19 points.
"We are extremely proud of Adrian's accomplishment," Humphrey said. "She has been such a tremendous athlete for us and has helped us in many, many ways."
Freshman guard Raeghan Meyer added 11 points for the Lady Bulldogs.
Sophomore guard Allison Stiers topped Hermann with a game-high 21 points.
South Callaway gets a rematch at New Haven at 6 p.m. Monday.