"One night, you're knocking them stiff. The next night, you can't throw it in the ocean."
North Callaway head coach Tim Turlington has this belief when it comes to offense, but his Ladybirds made Silex feel the pressure Thursday night at home. North Callaway won its Eastern Missouri Conference opener against the Lady Owls 47-32, stealing the ball 19 times and limiting Silex to three single-digit quarters. Freshman Natalie Shryock led the scoring with a game-high 16 points, making four of the team's seven 3-pointers, while sophomores Abrielle Burgher and Riley Blevins added nine and eight points, respectively.
Turlington said applying pressure early helped North Callaway (2-1, 1-0 EMO) snag an early advantage in this conference matchup and supported the Ladybirds later in the game when the shots weren't falling.
"We wanted to come out with as much pressure as we could bear on them," Turlington said. "If we can set our defense and we can go from there, we can turn defense into offense. Defense can travel. Offense doesn't always travel. One night, you're knocking them stiff. The next night, you can't throw it in the ocean. But your defense can always come, and it can always play."
Silex (0-2, 0-1 EMO) did score the first basket but then North Callaway dropped 17 on the Lady Owls to lead 17-2 after one. Shryock started her game strong, draining two of her 3-pointers and scoring eight points as the Ladybirds led 10-2. The Lady Owls began to double team North Callaway to earn some fastbreak opportunities, but any they had were missed. The period ended with just the one field goal in Silex's favor - North Callaway's best defensive quarter since the two points allowed in the fourth quarter of the first game against Calvary Lutheran - and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by junior Jalyn Leible.
North Callaway was able to quicken the pace in the second quarter by scoring on the fastbreak and ended with a possession that saw the Ladybirds pull down a couple of offensive rebounds before senior Kyanne Kellerman ultimately scored the bucket to send the game to halftime with North Callaway leading 30-5.
Turlington said North Callaway made a bigger effort to attack the basket better than it has in its first two games. He said the Ladybirds, without a doubt, did a better job of that as they made it to the free throw line for the first time this season, making 8-of-12. Applying some pressure offensively should help complement the defensive pressure North Callaway wants to bring every game.
"This is our third game, and this is the first game we've been to the free throw line, which is not good," Turlington said. "It indicates we're not attacking the goal so we talked about making a priority to attack the goal tonight. We did, and we got to the free throw line quite often. It payed off for us as we got good buckets, good reads and good looks."
In the second half, North Callaway went cold as Turlington said happens from time to time as the Ladybirds scored 17 points in the final two quarters and allowed Silex to cut its 30-point deficit to 15 before the game was done. The Lady Owls made a couple of field goals in the third with Rita Thoroughman and Maddy Hall nailing the team's first of two 3-pointers, to trail 38-14 after three.
Leible hit her second 3-pointer coming off the bench in the fourth quarter, but Silex outscored its first three quarters with an 18-point fourth led by Abagail Mooney and Sara Grateke, who was the Lady Owls' leading scorer with eight points.
Turlington said his team just seemed tired at that point of the game and gave away some momentum it built up throughout the game.
"We need to keep pressure on, keep moving the ball and keep doing things we do in practice," Turlington said. "It was pretty good overall."
He said having newcomers like Shyrock and Blevins contribute this much early is encouraging for the rest of the season and makes up a great group of girls he enjoys coaching in his first year.
"We are kind of young," Turlington said. "The kids are coming along. The girls are learning, and they work hard in doing what they we want to do. I can't really ask any more of them. I love this bunch."
North Callaway begins play at 7:30 p.m. Monday against Macon (3-0) in the Centralia Invitational Tournament. The Tigerettes are reigning district champions and finished fourth place in Class 3 in the 2019-20 season.