MOKANE, Mo. - New Bloomfield head coach Brett Craighead had indicated that the stature of Hermann's players could be troublesome for his Lady Wildcats in a championship showdown at the South Callaway Tournament.
Unfortunately for No. 2 seed New Bloomfield, Craighead's assertion came to fruition as the Lady Wildcats shot a dreadful 27 percent (14-of-51) in a 64-37 title loss to top-seeded Hermann on Thursday night.
"We haven't shot the ball well all week, but their size makes a huge difference," Craighead said. "They are big and they're not slow either, they're quick. It's hard to shoot over that kind of size and I think that contributed a lot to it."
Craighead also noted that having to play on consecutive nights might have impacted the Lady Wildcats' performance. The championship game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was moved up to Thursday because of the incoming ice storm.
New Bloomfield edged No. 3 seed New Haven in a dramatic 39-38 semifinal victory Wednesday night.
"I think playing back-to-back nights affected us a little bit because we're not used to that," he said.
Thursday night's title game started out promising for the Lady Wildcats (11-3) as they took a 6-2 advantage - all of those points delivered by junior guard Madi Craighead - with 5 minutes, 38 seconds to go in the first quarter. Hermann (10-4) then took advantage of four New Bloomfield fouls and knocked down 7-of-8 free throws to close out the period with a 13-0 run and build a 15-6 lead.
The Lady Wildcats missed nine shots and committed six of their 15 turnovers during that stretch.
"We just didn't attack the basket the way we normally do - part of that is because of their size," Brett Craighead said. "I told them, 'We're gonna have to adjust, use a ball fake,' but they (Lady Bearcats) are good about staying down, and when they stay down they can still block our shots."
Hermann started to widen the gap in the second quarter by attacking the post. After senior forward Madison Love's layup cut New Bloomfield's deficit to 29-21 with 3:03 left in the period, Hermann closed the first half with a crippling 12-0 tear. Senior forward Emily Engemann produced eight of her 12 points in the paint during that span as the Lady Bearcats extended their halftime advantage to 41-21.
Brett Craighead explained that Hermann's late surge probably happened because he had to sit sophomore center Samantha Haas after she picked up two fouls in the first quarter.
"Our big girl had foul trouble and we had to take her out," he said. "They were smart and threw it in to their big girl, and we don't have an answer for 6-foot-2 (Engemann)."
Hermann turned the game into a runaway when it kicked off the third quarter with a 16-4 outburst, punctuating it with a layup by junior forward Tess Schannuth at the 2:57 mark to make it 57-25. New Bloomfield tallied the final seven points of the quarter, but was still down 57-32 going into the final 8 minutes.
"It's a big jump to come back against a team that plays defense like that and they aren't going to give you anything easy," Craighead said. "They're well-coached and they're a good team. I thought we battled hard, we just didn't hit enough shots."
Madi Craighead - finishing with a game-high 16 points - was named the tournament's most valuable player. Haas was also selected to the all-tournament second team.
"She (Madi) played well," Brett Craighead said. "She shot the ball decent tonight. I'm proud of her, I'm proud of Sammie and I'm proud of their teammates for filling their roles, too (throughout the tournament)."
Sophomore guard Allison Stiers directed Hermann - which shot 42 percent (25-of-59) as a team - with 13 points. Junior forward Tess Schannuth also provided 12 points and junior guard Brooke Grosse added 10.
Stiers was chosen to the all-tournament first team and Grosse was a second-team pick.
New Bloomfield returns to Show-Me Conference play when it hosts Fatima at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
"We have a lot of games coming up," Brett Craighead said. "January is a busy month. It kind of gets you ready and propels you into districts in February."