Savages stay unbeaten, hold off Lynnville-Sully

SULLY — There aren’t usually too many moral victories when it comes to sports, but the Lynnville-Sully girls basketball team hung tough with Class 2A No. 7 Sigourney Friday night despite a poor shooting performance. Lynnville-Sully shot just 24.5 percent from the field (12-of-49), 9.5 percent on 3-pointers (2-of-21) and made just half of their free throws (10-of-20) in a 46-36 loss to the Savages in South Iowa Cedar League play. Sigourney turned the ball over 10 more times than Lynnville-Sully, one way the Hawks stayed in the ballgame, but L-S coach Jerry Hulsing knew his team would have to score more points to knock off an unbeaten team. “We just need to shoot the ball better,” Hulsing said. “We had some looks and we missed some looks inside — some bunnies. We missed some outside shots that we tried to rush and hurry. We needed to take our time.” Sigourney led by as many as nine in the first half, but a 3-pointer by Cyvannah Doll with 32 seconds left before halftime made it a 20-14 deficit at the break. Doll led the Hawks with 10 points, making key shots to keep her team in the ballgame. And on their home court, Lynnville-Sully made a run at the unbeaten Savages. The Hawks went on a 7-2 run to start the second half, with two Tara Van Rees free throws cutting the deficit to just 22-21. But it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when the Hawks took their first lead of the ballgame. Lynnville-Sully had been within one point six times and had the game tied once before Doll drained a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter. That 3-pointer gave the Hawks a 31-30 lead. The Savages took the lead back after post player Carolyn Holm made two free throws. But it didn’t stop the Hawks from trying to pull the upset. A Danielle Samson shot inside with 5:56 remaining gave Lynnville-Sully back a 35-34 lead, but after that, Sigourney went on a 12-1 run to end the game. In the final 5:56, the Hawks committed three turnovers, missed six shots and were just 1-of-3 from the free-throw line. Sigourney shot 54.5 percent from the field in the final quarter while Lynnville-Sully was just 14.3 percent. Despite the loss, one that ended a three-game winning streak, Hulsing knows his team is showing progress as the postseason nears. “It’s a tough thing to lose — we never like to lose,” Hulsing said. “We battled and didn’t roll over. They had to play, they had to go out there and execute. It’s a stepping stone. It’s something we can learn from.”

No. 7 Sigourney 46, Lynnville-Sully 36 Score by quarters Sig 9 11 10 16 — 46 L-S 6 8 14 8 — 36 L-S individual statistics Cyvannah Doll 4-11 0-0 10, Tara Van Rees 2-12 5-6 9, Brianna James 2-5 3-7 7, Danielle Samson 2-7 1-4 5, Tessa Engle 1-3 0-1 2, Caitlin Cross 1-2 0-0 2, Mariah Terlouw 0-9 1-2 1. Totals 12-49 10-20 36. 3-point goals — 2-21. Rebounds — 26 (Van Rees 6). Assists — 11 (Van Rees 4). Steals — 10 (Van Rees 4). Blocked shots — 3. Team fouls — 12. Fouled out — None.