Spire’s effort not enough for Bluejays
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
Junior guard Jill Spire attempts to put up a shot Tuesday night for Northeast Nodaway with Worth County defenders all over her during a 32-27 loss to the Tigers in Ravenwood.
Despite a late comeback attempt from the Northeast Nodaway girls’ basketball team, it fell just short Tuesday night against a strategic defensive effort from Worth County.
After struggling offensively the first three quarters, the Bluejays found a way to compensate for their difficult shooting night in the fourth period, but still dropped their sixth loss of the season, 32-27.
Worth County opened the game playing a box-and-one defensively and used it throughout, guarding Northeast Nodaway junior forward Dallis Coffelt man-to-man with its four other players in a zone.
The defensive scheme hampered the Bluejays’ ability to feed their leading scorer, which allowed the Tigers to take a commanding first-quarter lead.
Due to Coffelt being held under wraps for most of the night by Worth County’s strategic defense, junior guard Jill Spire became the lightning rod for most of the Bluejay offense.
“Jill was definitely a bright spot tonight,” head coach Vance Proffitt said. “We’ve got to somehow rally behind her because she played her tail off tonight. We didn’t help her out at all. … She did everything she could.”
After one quarter of play, Worth County held a 12-2 lead, charged by a 12-0 run after Northeast Nodaway tallied the first points of the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Bluejays countered with their own defensive change — a switch from man-to-man to a 2-3 zone, which contributed to several Tiger turnovers and wasted possessions.
However, a continued scoring drought allowed Worth County to compile a 6-0 run that extended the advantage to 18-4.
To end the period, Northeast Nodaway junior forward Talina Nelson sank a shot from the middle of the lane and was fouled, but couldn’t connect on the ensuing free throw with 13.4 seconds left until halftime. The play narrowed the lead to 20-8, which held until the break, ending the half with some Bluejay momentum.
“It was nice to see; we hadn’t gotten anything inside all night,” Proffitt said. “It took a long offensive rebound to finally get something in there. We just needed a bucket. We couldn’t hit water if we fell out of a boat, so it was nice to get some points, at least.”
The third quarter quickly became a defensive shutdown for both teams, as Worth County tallied just three points in the period compared to the Bluejays’ two.
Northeast Nodaway employed an extended 2-3 zone for most of the quarter, including some full-court defensive looks to throw the Tigers out of rhythm. Worth County ended the third quarter with a 23-10 lead after Spire connected on a pair of free throws with 2:53 left.
“That’s the effort we’ve got to make for 32 minutes, we can’t do it for 10,” Proffitt said. “We tried to give ourselves a chance to get back in the game, but we didn’t do it. It was kind of a wasted effort at the end of the game.”
At the start of the fourth quarter, Northeast Nodaway put together a 5-0 run to pull within single digits.
After Worth County ended the run with a basket of its own, the Bluejays reeled off another five consecutive points to bring the Tiger lead to 25-20 with less than four minutes remaining. Spire began the streak with another and-one, again unable to connect on the added free throw.
But, after Northeast Nodaway came within three points at 26-23 with less than a minute remaining, Worth County took to the free throw line to cap its victory.
Spire finished her night with 19 points to lead all scorers, while senior forward Kaitlyn Davidson led Worth County with 11 points.
After the loss, which puts the Bluejays at 6-6 on the year, they return to action at 6 p.m. Friday against Stewartsville in Ravenwood.
DALTON VITT/DAILY FORUM
While she spent most of the night contained by a Worth County box-and-one defense, Northeast Nodaway junior forward Dallis Coffelt gets open for an easy look in a 32-27 defeat against the Tigers.
