Cardinal teams win at Oskaloosa; Area Prep Basketball Roundup

Newton’s basketball teams swept a Little Hawkeye Conference doubleheader on the road Friday night. In South Iowa Cedar League girls’ crossover divisional games, Lynnville-Sully lost and Colfax-Mingo won to finish second and fifth, respectively in the conference.

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter and Prairie City-Monroe basketball teams dropped Heart of Iowa Conference doubleheaders Friday.

Newton girls 47, Oskaloosa girls 21

OSKALOOSA — Following Thursday night’s home game against Class 4A No. 12 Grinnell, Newton High’s head coach Brandon Sharp admitted he wasn’t sure how much “gas was left” in the tanks of his players. Newton rallied late to within five points against Grinnell, but lost 66-59.

Newton was sluggish on offense in Friday’s Little Hawkeye Conference game at Oskaloosa, but still led their hosts, 5-0 after the first quarter. The Cardinal offense heated up in the second period, pushing out to a 23-11 halftime lead.

The Cardinals motored to a 47-21 win to improve to 10-9 overall. Newton is 4-6 in LHC play as Oskaloosa remains winless in conference action, 0-10. The Indians are 2-16 overall.

“I’ll probably go with the rotation of five-for-five early like we did against Chariton on Monday,” Sharp said of his plans for Friday’s game. “It will help get everyone in the game early and break a sweat.”

Senior Alex Hutchinson hit the opening basket of the game then more than five minutes ticked off the clock before another point was scored. Sharp went to the platooning in the first quarter sending in a fresh five players midway through the period.

Junior Megan Pressgrove scored on the inside for Newton at the 2:40 mark to make it 4-0. Senior Jessica Reynolds sank one-of-two free throws. That was the scoring for the first period.

Newton’s defensive pressure kept the Indians scoreless for 10 minutes. Oskaloosa was down 10-0 when junior Alexis Westercamp scored its first basket of the game.

Sydney Jenkins, senior guard, drained a 3-pointer to begin the second period for Newton and added basket. Westercamp scored back-to-back buckets to make it 10-4, but that was as close as the Indians came to the Cardinals.

Westercamp, who finished with 10 points, had eight in the second quarter. The Cardinals led 23-11 at the break.

A steal and a layup got Newton senior Hannah Rhoads in the scoring column to begin the third quarter. Jenkins nailed a trey and Reynolds’ basket pushed Newton’s lead to 30-13. The Cardinals outscored the Indians 13-4 in the third quarter to lead 36-15.

The Cardinals finished off their 10th win of the season with an 11-6 run in the final eight minutes.

“We had great team effort tonight and got a team win,” Sharp said. “We fought through some adversity, not playing very well on the offensive end.”

Jenkins led all scorers with 12 points for Newton. Reynolds finished with nine points. The Cardinals were 7-of-13 at the free-throw line.

Westercamp was the lone Indian player in double figure scoring. The Indians had nine field goals, including one 3-pointer, and went 2-of-7 at the line.

Newton hosts 4A No. 8 Pella Tuesday on the first of two nights of Coaches vs. Cancer for NHS. The game tips off at 6:15 p.m.

Newton boys 64, Oskaloosa boys 54

OSKALOOSA — Going on the road after back-to-back home losses, Newton High’s Cardinal boys took Friday’s Little Hawkeye Conference game one possession at a time. It worked as the Cardinals held off host Oskaloosa’s Indians, 64-54.

“The kids responded well after Thursday night’s game. We stress taking things one possession at a time and one game at a time,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said. “Tonight, we played possession and execution basketball offensively and played solid defense to get a road win.”

Newton had a 7-2 lead early on baskets by senior Jwan Roush and junior Connor Gholson, who added a 3-pointer. Oskaloosa rallied back to within one, 9-8, by the three-minute mark.

Junior Morgan Maher and senior Joseph Banfield had back-to-back baskets to push Newton’s lead to 13-8. Maher’s second field goal of the game handed the Cardinals a 19-15 lead by the end of the first quarter.

The Cardinals broke out a 29-18 advantage midway through the second period. Newton carried a 35-24 lead into halftime.

Oskaloosa made runs at Newton in the second half. It was 39-31 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Maher touched off a five-point run with a 3-pointer. Newton led 46-36 at the end of the third period.

“We’re normally a very reliable team at the free-throw line, tonight we struggled. We hit enough at the end to stave off their challenges,” Liley said.

Newton and Oskaloosa each added 18 points to their scores during the fourth quarter. Sturtz went 8-of-13 at the foul line in the fourth quarter, finishing with 14 points. Newton was 12-of-23 at the line as a team.

Roush paced the Cardinals with 16 points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists. Banfield added 12 points, made three steals and had three assists.

Gholson delivered 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Maher scored 10 points and dished out four assists.

Jack Moore was Oskaloosa’s leading scorer with 15 points. Three other players scored eight points apiece for the Indians, who were 10-of-12 at the free-throw line.

Newton improved to 11-6 overall and 6-4 in LHC action. The Cardinals host 3A top-ranked Pella Tuesday on the first of two nights of Coaches vs. Cancer for NHS. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m.

Iowa Valley girls 37, Lynnville-Sully girls 30

MARENGO — With the South Iowa Cedar League conference title on the line, Lynnville-Sully’s girls came up short of back-to-back conference championships Friday night. The Class 1A No. 12 Hawks dropped a 37-30 decision to host Iowa Valley in the SICL crossover game between divisional champions.

Lynnville-Sully finished in a tie with Montezuma atop the SICL West, but got the top spot on a tiebreaker. Iowa Valley won the SICL East division. It was the first year of divisional play for the conference.

“Tonight's game was about our inability to rebound the ball and keep them out of the lane on defense,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Jerry Hulsing said. “We settled for jump shots, and not getting to the inside or attacking the rim.”

The Tigers out rebounded the Hawks, 42-36.

Despite shooting a frigid 19 percent, 9-of-47, from the field for the game, the Hawks led 18-16 at halftime. Lynnville-Sully owned a 28-25 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers outscored the Hawks, 12-2, to win the game.

Iowa Valley didn’t shoot much better from the field, 12-of-47, for 25 percent. The Tigers cashed in 11-of-16 free throw attempts while the Hawks went 7-of-17 at the line.

Lynnville-Sully got 13 points from Kasiah Ehresman, who hit three of the team’s five 3-pointers. Brenna Lanser added 11 points.

Iowa Valley had nine points each from Cherrise Ward and Sarah Kavanh.

Lynnville-Sully (19-2) has two weeks to get back on track for a run at the 1A state tournament. The Hawks play the winner of GMG-Meskwaki Settlement in the second round of the Class 1A Region 3 tournament at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Sully.

Colfax-Mingo girls 39, English Valleys 38

NORTH ENGLISH — The Tigerhawks avenged a loss from earlier this season thanks to a pair of double-doubles by Ries Wilson and Dakota Hostetter during a South Iowa Cedar League crossover game Friday night.

English Valleys rallied for a one-point win in Colfax earlier this year, but Colfax-MIngo led the rematch most of the way. English Valleys hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute to make things close.

The Tigerhawks led 25-19 at halftime and took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Wilson had 12 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Hostetter added 11 points and 12 boards. McKeely Tjaden chipped in nine points, while Amy Russll contributed six rebounds and four steals.

Nevada sweeps Mustangs, spoils Senior Night

MONROE — Both Nevada basketball teams spoiled Senior Night for PCM's hoops squads Friday night during Heart of Iowa Conference play.

The Cub boys got another strong performance from John Heintz and the Cubs buried 12 3-pointers as Nevada topped the Mustangs, 63-53.

In the girls game, Nevada used an 8-0 run in the first quarter and then scored 10 straight at the start of the third quarter duringa 43-23 win.

Heintz came into game having made 11 3-pointers in the last two games. That trend continued Friday night and his school-record eight buckets from long range gave the Cubs a boost.

The game went back-and-forth until the fourth when Nevada pulled away with a 19-11 advantage.

Heintz scored 26 points, while Cole Gidel, one of the best players in the HOIC, scored 15.

Nevada grabbed a double-digit lead with an 11-0 run, but PCM led by one at halftime after closing the half on a 14-2 run. It stayed a close and competitive game through three quarters, but the Cubs won the first fivepoints and final six points in the fourth quarter.

Logan Gilman led the Mustangs with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Luke Greiner scored 18 and grabbed nine boards. Only four players scored for PCM in the game.

Austin Brown chipped in nine points and four rebounds, while Andrew Van Ryswyk scored seven, pulled down six boards and dished out three assists.

In the girls game, PCM got a season-high nine points from Lexi Timmins. Katie Vande Wall grabbed eight boards, and Bailey Brodersen grabbed five boards.

PCM hung around for awhile. The Mustangs fared much better against the Cubs than Gilbert did. The Tigers made just one basket from the floor and lost 51-8 on Thursday.

Kati Cassabaum, a Northern Iowa vollebyball signee, had 16 points to lead the Cubs, while Lexi Koudelka scored 12 but missed a lot of the second half with an injury.

Roland-Story sweeps CMB basketball teams

BAXTER — The Collins-Maxwell/Baxter basketball teams played even with Roland-Story for two of the fourth quarters Friday night.

Unfortunately, the deficits in the other two quarters were too much to overcome during a Heart of Iowa Conference doubleheader.

The CMB boys were ahead by one after the first quarter, but got outscored 48-24 over the next two periods during a 77-53 home loss. The Raider girls were dead even with the Norse in the second and fourth quarters, but a 10-4 deficit in the first and a 12-2 margin in the third gave R-S a 36-20 victory.

Hunter Gunderson led the Raider boys with 18 points, while Brady Stover had 15 points and five rebounds and Will Clapper chipped in 14 points and five rebounds. Brady Kemp finished with five assists and four rebounds and Hunter McWhirter dished out four assists.

Roland-Story's Tyler Hovick scored a game-high 19 points, while John Barclay added 18.

CMB's Mikayla Eslinger led all scorers in the girls game with 10 poins, and Kathleen Baldwin scored six.

Jenna Clark scored nine and Alexa Whipple had nine and eight, respectively, for the Norse.