NEW BLOOMFIELD - The New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats defense put the clamps down on the South Callaway Lady Bulldogs to offset an otherwise spotty shooting night. New Bloomfield forced 25 turnovers on its way to a 43-27 home win over South Callaway on Monday evening.
"I thought they came out with the right attitude," Lady Wildcats head coach Brett Craighead said. "We didn't shoot the ball well, but we shot it good enough.
"We were pretty efficient at times, we were patient and got a lot of good shots inside."
Senior guard Jessica Hazelhorst and senior forward Chelsea Wiler each chipped in 10 points for the Lady Wildcats, now 7-3 on the season. Senior guard Ashtin Withers scored eight points of her own to go along with her seven steals as New Bloomfield stretched a 12-11 lead in the first quarter into a 24-15 advantage at halftime.
"After that first quarter, I thought our full-court defense really just wore them out," Craighead said. "Then when we dropped back into our half-court defense, we were able to do the same thing. I was really pleased with how our defense played."
The New Bloomfield and South Callaway junior varsity teams played just one half of basketball, with the Lady Wildcats prevailing 12-7. Freshman guard Mykaela Bonnett scored six points to lead New Bloomfield.
The Lady Wildcats play at Eugene in Show-Me Conference play at 6 p.m. on Thursday. South Callaway hosts Montgomery County at 6 p.m. that same night.