BOWLING GREEN - Junior guard Kenzie Ausfahl's near triple-double helped the North Callaway Ladybirds put away the Louisiana Lady Bulldogs on Monday night.
In the first round of the Bowling Green Tournament, the No. 2 seed Ladybirds advanced with a 65-45 victory. Ausfahl spearheaded the win with 23 points, 12 rebounds, eight steals and four assists.
Early on, North Callaway (10-7) would need every last bit of that production as No. 7 seed Louisiana (3-14) came out with an upset on its mind.
The Lady Bulldogs (3-14) were only down 25-20 after one quarter, but the Ladybirds outscored Louisiana 23-6 in the second quarter to extend its lead to 48-26 at the break.
North Callaway carried a 56-28 advantage to the fourth quarter.
Despite finding their groove late, Ladybird head coach Morgan Beamer still expects more from her team going forward.
"We didn't play a great game tonight, but we did a good job shooting," Beamer said. "Our defense wasn't good at all, especially early, but we hope to take this win and keep advancing in the winner's bracket."
Senior forward Kyle Bertschinger also produced 23 points and senior forward Allie Schlueter added 11 for North Callaway.
The Ladybirds will face either No. 3 seed Clopton or No. 6 Silex in the semifinals at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday. North Callaway dropped a 47-42 Eastern Missouri Conference thriller to Clopton in Kingdom City on Jan. 18.