Lady Trojans escape Tarkio with road win

Nodaway-Holt's girls basketball team had to feel a pretty big sense of relief to get out of Tarkio Friday night with its undefeated conference record still in tact.

The Lady Trojans made just one three-pointer on the night and turned the ball over twice in a frantic final 30 seconds, enabling the Indians a chance to tie or take the lead after trailing by nine at the start of the fourth quarter.

With nine seconds left, Tarkio inbounded the ball on the side of its own end but by the time the Indians got up a desperation three-point heave, the final buzzer had already sounded on Nodaway-Holt's 44-42 victory.

The Trojans improved to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in the 275. Tarkio fell to 7-6 overall.

"I told the girls we didn't have a good offensive night," said Nodaway-Holt head coach David Carroll. "To come out with a win, we feel very good about that."

Nodaway-Holt's lack of perimeter scoring affected them most in the first and fourth quarters when they were outscored 26-14.

Tarkio finished the opening quarter ahead 11-6 on a deep jumper by McEnaney who led the Indians with 23 points.

The Trojan deficit remained five points in the second quarter when junior guard Megan Rosenbohm ignited the Trojans, scoring eight consecutive points, all on open court opportunities, to give her team a 20-17 halftime lead.

Rosenbohm finished with a game-high 24 points, accounting for over half of the team's total.

"That's always big, getting Megan going down the court one-on-one," said Carroll. "That's a big part of our game."

Nodaway-Holt never relinquished the lead in the second half, although the Indians pulled within a point early in the third quarter on a layup by sophomore Emily Graves who scored 10 points.

Consecutive three-point plays by Rosenbohm in transition extended Nodaway-Holt's lead to 32-25 with 1:20 left in the quarter.

A follow by Bailee Lance and a bank shot by Kalli Devers gave the Trojans their largest lead of 36-27 at the end of the third.

Tarkio kept coming.

A jumper by Graves and a three-pointer by McEnaney made it 36-32 early in the fourth quarter.

Rosenbohm wowed the crowd with a spinning transition layup before a second McEnaney three and a free throw by Graves cut it to two.

"Abby's a very good shooter," said Carroll. "You let her stand out there and shoot, she'll hit all night. You got to keep a hand in her face. She's one of the best shooters around."

Nodaway-Holt scored the next four points on a Krysta Beattie (nine points) follow and a short jumper by Devers to restore the lead to six.

The Trojans appeared to have the game in hand when Rosenbohm made the first of two free throws with 30 seconds left to give the Trojans a 44-39 lead. But Rosenbohm missed the second, and the Trojans fouled on the rebound, sending Blaze Erickson to the foul line.

She made the first and missed the second to cut the gap to four.

A Trojan turnover led to a layup at the other end by Erickson to make it 44-42 with 15 seconds left.

Another turnover by the Trojans on the ensuing inbounds pass gave Tarkio the ball back with a chance to tie or take the lead.

Nodaway-Holt deflected two Tarkio inbound passes out of bounds before the third one was put in play.

The ball found its way into McEnaney's hands well past the three-point line with around five seconds left.

She gave it up to Erickson who tried to dribble her way into a shot but never got one off until it was too late.

"We told them we didn't have a timeout and we were going to have to make something happen," said Tarkio head coach Joe Unternaher. "We didn't quite get the shot we wanted there at the end."

A last shot might not have been necessary had the Indians done better than 10-19 at the free throw line.

The sharp-shooting McEnaney was not immune, going 1-5 in the fourth quarter and 5-11 overall.