The North Callaway girls relied on Natalie Shryock on Saturday, and she delivered with a season-best day.

Shryock hit a season-high eight 3-pointers, surpassing her previous best of seven, and led the Ladybirds with a season-high 28 points in their 61-45 loss to Class 3 No. 3 Montgomery County (13-1) in the South Callaway tournament championship game. The Ladybirds (10-5) managed to cut their deficit to as low as nine points in the third quarter but still lost their 11th straight meeting against their Eastern Missouri Conference foe. 

North Callaway had won four straight games heading into Saturday, starting with a victory at Sturgeon where Shryock had seven 3-pointer games. The Ladybirds had scored over 50 points during that stretch but were held to under 50 by Montgomery’s defense, which is averaging less than 40 points per game for the fifth straight season under head coach Joe Basinger, and its tight one-on-one defense.

“The biggest challenge against a defense like that is they’re so disciplined,” head coach Andrew Klein said. “They don’t gamble a lot. They do a really good job sliding their feet one-on-one. They’re so disciplined and well-coached, it makes it difficult to get open looks. We can get shots off because we have a talented group, but they’re contested, always.”

Occasionally, North Callaway managed to score up close but mostly leaned on the sharpshooting from Shryock. The Ladybirds did hold a 9-5 lead after Shryock had a 3-pointer rattle around before falling through the net until a 16-0 Montgomery run put them behind 21-9 early in the second quarter.

Shryock had 15 points on five 3-pointers at halftime, knocking down a buzzer-beater at least a foot behind the arc at the top of the key to make it 32-19 at halftime. She fell to the floor while draining another long-distance 3-pointer before completing a 4-point play and added another free throw soon after to cut North Callaway’s deficit to 40-31 with around three minutes left in the third quarter.

Klein said reigning all-conference player Riley Blevins and Lakyn Hartley deservedly earned first-team all-tournament members after leading North Callaway in three games this week. Blevins had six assists and six rebounds, and Hartley had eight points and five assists. Shryock’s scoring was below average until Klein said Shryock posted the best scoring game of the week for the Ladybirds and her best scoring game of the season.

“Natalie’s a special player,” Klein said. “We needed every bit of them. We’re going to look for ways to get her more involved, always, because she’s a first-team all-conference player and she probably will be again this year. Riley Blevins had six assists tonight and probably four or five went to Nat.”

Malia Rodgers led Montgomery with 21 points and was named the tournament MVP, and Maddie Queathem followed with 17 points and four 3-pointers.

Klein said this week was a good one, especially on defense. North Callaway started the tournament with a 58-16 victory over host South Callaway, shutting out the Lady Bulldogs in the second half. The Ladybirds then defeated what Klein sees as a top-20 Class 3 school Hermann 59-50 despite the Lady Bearcats (9-5) going into the semifinal matchup averaging 58 points per game.

North Callaway also had to face Hermann and state-ranked Montgomery without practice since the school wasn’t in session most of the week due to winter weather so Klein said that brings additional challenges. He said the Ladybirds hope to have more preparation next week with three games scheduled, starting with a 6 p.m. Monday game at Fayette (10-3).

“We just plan on what we know and try not to throw in too much new stuff out there,” Klein said. “Our girls do a great job on the fly, trying to adjust and do the right things.”