Lady Trojans overcome shooting woes to advance

Nowhere near their best offensively Tuesday night, Nodaway-Holt's girls advanced in the Class 1 District 16 Tournament with relative ease anyway due to even greater scoring struggles from first round opponent Craig-Fairfax.

While the second-seeded Lady Trojans labored on offense much of the night, they were never seriously threatened past the second quarter of a 52-33 win over No. 7 seed Craig-Fairfax.

Nodaway-Holt kept at least a 10-point lead throughout the second half and blew it up to as many as 25 once some outside shots finally started to fall.

The Trojans went 20-67 (.298) from the field and ended up with 23 turnovers, although 11 came in the fourth quarter after the game was decided. This was their third win over CFX (6-18) this year.

"We just couldn't hit," said Nodaway-Holt head coach David Carroll. "We put Krysta (Beattie) out there in the corner and she stepped up and hit a few baskets in the second half, but we just struggled. We couldn't make shots."

Nodaway-Holt's offensive struggles began after a strong first three minutes produced a 7-0 lead.

The Trojans missed 13 of their last 14 shots in the first quarter, yet maintained a seven-point lead because CFX made just one field goal and turned it over 13 times.

CFX closed the gap to 9-7 with 6:03 left in the second quarter before the Trojans got it going again.

Nodaway-Holt went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes to lead 23-11, a score that stood until halftime.

Junior guard Megan Rosenbohm contributed 10 of her game-high 19 points to the run, including a three-point play and a three-pointer.

CFX got within 10 near the start of the second half, but the Trojans scored the next seven points to lead 30-13. They finished the third quarter up 35-21.

The fourth quarter was Nodaway-Holt's best offensively, with the Trojans scoring 17 points on 6-13 shooting. Two deep jumpers by Beattie and a second three from Kalli Devers were part of a 13-2 run that extended Nodaway-Holt's lead to 51-26.

"I thought Krysta stepped up there and made some," said Carroll. "I thought Kalli Devers made a couple. Megan made some. I never thought we started making them until the third quarter."

Beattie and Devers combined to score 21 of their 23 points in the second half. Beattie finished with 13 and Devers had 10. Bailee Lance added seven points.

The Hornets, who committed 20 first half turnovers and over 30 in the game, managed to double their first half point total in the second half behind senior guard Aleesha Ball.

She made all seven of her field goals and scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half. Hopkins finished with seven and Katherine Beck (four points) was the only other Hornet to score.

"We played well defensively," said Carroll. "We played pretty hard man. Ball got some good shots off us, but outside of that, they didn't make many shots at all. We shut down Hopkins really well."

Rosenbohm, who had 15 first half points, re-aggravated her shoulder injury on an attempted rebound in the second half and had to come out to get it wrapped. Carroll expects her to be able to play through it the rest of the tournament.

"She said it's getting along pretty good with it that way," said Carroll. "This time of year, we'll see what happens."

Nodaway-Holt matches up with No. 3 seed Rock Port in the semifinals tonight at 8:15 p.m. The game was moved up a night due to the threat of severe weather.

Rock Port advanced with a 47-30 win over No. 6 seed South Nodaway Tuesday night.

The Trojans went 2-1 against Rock Port during the regular season. Rock Port's lone win came in the finals of the Fairfax Tournament.

#1 Mound City 53 #8 West Nodaway 35

The top-seeded Panthers took charge in the first quarter and eliminated No. 8 seed West Nodaway with a 53-35 win in a first round district game Tuesday night in Graham.

Mound City finished the first quarter up 16-6 and held a 29-10 lead at the half. The Rockets prevented the deficit from getting much higher in the second half, but never got within 15 points.

Mound City's Alex Phillips led all scorers with 21 points. She had 12 in the first quarter and 18 points by halftime.

Emily Wedlock followed with 14 points.

Marissa Perkins led the Rockets with 12 points and joining her in double-figures was Emily Cordell with 10.

Cordell hit a pair of second half three's.