The California Lady Pintos came into the Moberly Shootout on Saturday looking to get back in the win column after losing four of their last five games. Their opponent at the shootout were the Northeast (Cairo) Lady Bearcats (8-1), who were led by the trio of forward Macie Harman, guard Olivia Cross and guard Avery Brumley.
From the start, Northeast took the ball into the heart of the California defense and Lady Pintos found themselves in foul trouble. Northeast made eight of ten free throws to go along with ten points from the field to led 20-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Despite being down by double-figures for the third consecutive game, guard Kierstyn Lawson began to bring the Lady Pintos back with a barrage of layups. Midway through the quarter, California had cut the lead to eight and forced the Lady Bearcats to take a timeout. California looked to be back in the game, but Brumley kept Northeast in the lead with eight points in the second quarter. Brumley's counter helped the Lady Bearcats take a 34-24 lead into halftime.
Lawson continued to lead the way for the Lady Pintos in the third quarter. California got the lead down to five, but Northeast refused to squander their lead. Foul trouble continued to hurt the Lady Pintos and the Lady Bearcats regained their ten-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
The script repeated itself in the final period. As California was unable to put together a scoring run, two Lady Pintos fouled out in the fourth quarter and Northeast won the game by a final score of 60-47. In Saturday's game, California had 12 fast break points and Northeast shot 25-39 from the free throw line in the game.
Lawson led the Lady Pintos with 14 points, four steals and three assists. Guard Hailey Rademan had nine points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Forward Ella Bailey scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds. Forward Isabelle Rohrbach had eight points, three rebounds and two steals.
Harman led the Lady Bearcats with 17 points, 12 rebounds, an assist and a block. Cross had 13 points, four rebounds and four steals and two assists. Brumley had 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
After winning their first four games, the Lady Pintos have now dropped five of their last six games. Their record is now 5-5 going into 2024.
Despite the loss, head coach Kevin Carr hopes that California playing their next five games on their home court will help his team clean up their play and win games again.
"(Foul trouble) it's something that has been plaguing us all season, so we've got figure out how to fix it. I don't care how good of a team we are, we can't give a team a 16-point lead every night and expect to come back and win those games. Tonight came down to that simply," Carr said. "We did some good things tonight. We got up and down the court. We've been asking Kierstyn (Lawson) to go to the basket and then dish out the ball from there. Foul trouble can be a number of different things and those are a hard thing to talk about. Tuesday night and Thursday night, we get to head back home and play two very good teams in Fatima and Eldon. I think playing at home will help us get back on track."
The Lady Pintos play the Eldon Lady Mustangs twice next week at home. First on Thursday and then Monday in the opening round of the California Tournament.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Hailey Rademan recorded nine points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist against Northeast (Cairo) on Saturday.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Guard Penelope Cotten maneuvers through the Northeast (Cairo) defense for a score on Saturday at the Moberly Shootout.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Kierstyn Lawson scored six of her 14 points on the fast break against Northeast (Cairo).
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Forward Ella Bailey scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds at the Moberly Shootout on Saturday.