RUSSELLVILLE, Mo. - The Russellville Lady Indians couldn't put the ball in the basket.
And it couldn't have come at a worse time.
Russellville was held to six points over two quarters and shot 24 percent from the field as third-seeded New Bloomfield went on to claim a 55-33 win against the fourth-seeded Lady Indians in the Class 2 District 8 championship game Friday night.
"We definitely didn't make any shots," Russellville coach David Volkart said. "We struggled, struggled, struggled offensively. But give New Bloomfield credit, they had a good defensive game plan."
Russelllville (14-14) was limited to three points in the second and third quarters, going just 2-of-21 from the field during that span.
Meanwhile, the Lady Wildcats were able to take a comfortable 33-15 lead entering the final period en route to their first district title since 1997.
"When we're winning and we're playing well, we score; we hit shots," Volkart said. "We've had some games this year where we couldn't throw it in the ocean and tonight was one of those. We just picked a bad night to have one."
Hannah Matthews finished with seven points, while A.J. Grellner and Haley Windsor were both limited to six for the Lady Indians, who were 13-of-54 from the field and 5-of-19 from the free-throw line.
Russellville committed 20 turnovers and was out-rebounded 49-42 just two days after upsetting No. 1 Tipton - a game the Lady Indians knocked down seven 3-pointers and went 21-of-31 from the charity stripe.
"We got tentative and didn't attack and couldn't make any shots," Volkart said. "We just didn't play very well - definitely wasn't our best game."
Bethany Craighead scored a game-high 18 points - 12 coming off free throws - and Mykaela Bonnet finished with 15 to help lead New Bloomfield (15-11).
The Lady Wildcats were 17-of-55 (30.9 percent) from the field and committed 18 turnovers, but that didn't matter.
"The intensity and effort on the defensive end - it's there every night," New Bloomfield coach Brett Craighead said. "Sometimes we have trouble scoring, but our defense has been pretty consistent all year.
"These girls have worked hard, they've played together for a long time and they've kind of got it together the last couple weeks. I'm really pleased with their effort."
The Lady Wildcats were 20-of-25 from the charity stripe - 16-of-18 in the fourth quarter - to hold off Russellville down the stretch.
"That was another thing I said at halftime: "We've got to keep taking it to them, we've got to get to the line and we have to quit fouling on our end,'" Craighead said. "I thought we did a good job at it."
New Bloomfield will face the winner of New Franklin, the fifth ranked team in Class 2, and Harrisburg in a sectional game at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Jefferson City High School.
"We still have a tough game ahead of us," Craighead said. "We've just got to come out and play. We've got nothing to lose right now. Nobody expected us to be here, so whatever happens now is great."