Lady Mustangs hold off Tarkio
PHIL COBB/DAILY FORUM
There’s not much the defense can do when North Nodaway 6-0 sophomore center Madison Thompson gets the ball high above her head. Thompson contributed 23 points to help her team finish the regular season with a 49-41 win over the Tarkio Lady Indians Friday night.
The North Nodaway girls’ basketball team squandered most of a commanding early lead, but held on for victory in its final regular season contest, 49-41, over Tarkio Friday night in Hopkins.
A big first quarter, including eight points from sophomore center Madison Thompson and seven from senior guard Sam Frueh — playing in the final home basketball game of her career — proved to be crucial to the win.
The Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 17-4 advantage in the first frame with little opposition from the visiting Lady Indians.
That all changed in the second quarter, as Tarkio seniors Emily Graves and Hadley Barnett started dropping three pointers. Three from that duo in the first few minutes of the second stanza pulled Tarkio back to within four points, 20-16, with four minutes to go before halftime.
“We just got comfortable,” North Nodaway head coach Sami Jackson said. “It doesn’t matter who you play, especially when you play a team with shooters on it, you can’t get comfortable.”
Things would get less comfortable for the home team as the game progressed.
Leading 23-16 at the half, the Lady Mustangs allowed the Lady Indians to get as close as one point on two occasions in the third quarter, 26-25 and 28-27.
After another three from Graves to begin the third quarter, Jackson said she told her girls to fall back out of their three-quarter-court zone pressure so her guards could focus on finding Tarkio’s shooters.
That strategy seemed to work throughout most of the second half, but the fourth trey of the night from Graves made the score 35-32 as the buzzer sounded on the third frame.
A quick 6-0 run by the Lady Mustangs, including two more field goals from Thompson to begin the final quarter built a nine-point upper hand, but the Lady Indians refused to give up.
A third member of the Tarkio team joined the three-point ranks with a triple with just under three minutes to go and two free throws from Graves made it a two point game, 41-39, with 2:12 left.
Most of the rest of the game was determined from the free throw line and the home team hit 6-of-9 freebies down the stretch to preserve the win.
“It was a good wake up for us going into districts,” Jackson said. “It should be good for us.
“This team has grown so much and right now, we’re not a young team. We’ve played enough games and we have enough experience that we shouldn’t use that as an excuse. It doesn’t matter what the score is or how close it gets, they keep their composure and they just keep going. That’s a big thing for us.”
It was an emotional night for Frueh, the lone senior, as she walked off the court for the final time as a member of the Lady Mustang basketball team.
“This is going to be my last chance to do this with these girls,” Frueh said. “I thought even if we don’t win, I won’t have any regrets.
“Coming into this year, I thought … we have a lot of young girls, it could be a struggle, but right off the bat we played like we’ve been playing together forever.
“(This team) has so much talent. I don’t see them having any problems (next year). I think there will be people who will step up and take a leadership role. … I think they’re going to come out with a good season next year.”
North Nodaway, 12-10, was lead in scoring by Thompson, who had 23 points to go along with Frueh’s nine. Graves had 25 for Tarkio.
The Lady Mustangs will play in the Class 1, District 15 Tournament in Ravenwood against Worth County at 8:15 p.m. Monday night.
PHIL COBB/DAILY FORUM
North Nodaway senior guard Sam Frueh gets past a Tarkio defender during her final basketball game on her home floor Friday night in Hopkins. Frueh’s nine points helped to end the season on a winning note for the Lady Mustangs as they defeated the Indians, 49-41.
