Raiders keep pace early, fall 62-29 to Cubs
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| CMB senior Kayla Hennick puts up a shot over Nevada's Megan Pringnitz in the third quarter of the Raiders' 62-29 loss to the Cubs Tuesday night in Baxter. Hennick led CMB with 10 points. (Shane Lucas/Daily News) |
BAXTER — It hasn’t exactly been an easy go for the Collins-Maxwell-Baxter girls basketball team so far this season, and Tuesday night didn’t make things much easier.
Although they kept it close in the first quarter, the Raiders (0-5, 0-4 Heart of Iowa Conference) eventually were overtaken by Nevada (5-0, 4-0), which exploded for a 62-29 victory.
“They’re just one of the best teams I’ve seen in a while,” CMB coach Eric Padget said of Nevada. “They shoot the ball really well, run the floor well, they’re tall and athletic and we just couldn’t match up with them.”
The two teams were going nearly shot-for-shot in the early going as Raiders sophomore Lexi Breon, junior Abbie Haupert and senior Kayla Hennick scored to keep pace with the Cubs. As the quarter dwindled down, Nevada began using a half-court trap that led to a 4-0 run to end the quarter. However, the Raiders only trailed 13-9.
“It was a good way to start out, and it was way better than how we started (against Colo-NESCO) Saturday,” Padget said. “I was happy with the way we played the whole game, we were just overmatched.”
Nevada’s trap became much more of a factor in the second quarter as the Cubs forced CMB into the majority of its 14 first-half turnovers. Raider senior Shelby Berg broke a 7-0 Cub run near the six-minute mark, but Nevada rattled off another run of 13-4 to end the half with a comfortable 33-15 lead.
“That’s where it definitely went away,” Padget said of the second quarter. “They’re such a good shooting team, you can’t give them extra possessions. That’s what those steals were on the trap — just extra possessions they shouldn’t have had.”
Hennick scored on back-to-back possessions at the beginning of the third quarter to keep pace with Nevada, but the Cubs heated up on both end of the floor. Breon hit a 3-pointer and Haupert added a basket of her own later in the quarter, but by then Nevada had stretched the lead out to more than 20 points.
Nevada wasn’t letting up in the fourth and piled on 11 more points before Haupert broke up that stretch with a three. In the game’s final minutes, the Raider bench saw plenty of court time and largely held the Cubs in check.
“It’s demoralizing to be playing defense with all your heart, and still having team shooting over the top of you,” Padget said. “It was an opportunity to get (the bench) in there, and it was good to get them some playing time against a team like that. They did a good job in there.”
Hennick led the Raiders with 10 points, while Haupert and Breon were right behind her with nine and eight, respectively. Nevada junior Megan Pringnitz led all scorers with 18 points. The Raiders will host Greene County in Maxwell on Friday.
Nevada 62, CMB 29
N — 13 20 16 13 — 62
C — 9 6 11 3 — 29
Nevada — Pringnitz 18, Helton 10, Cassabaum 8, Fey 8, Ramthun 8, Saunders 4, Lodestein 2
CMB — Hennick 10, Haupert 9, Breon 8, Berg 2
