Balanced Lynnville-Sully girls roll to season-opening basketball victory

KALONA — Defensively, Lynnville-Sully’s Hawk girls held host Iowa Mennonite School to 18 percent shooting from the field in the 2018-19 season opening basketball game Friday. The preseason Class 1A No. 10 Hawks cruised to a 75-30 win.

“I was very happy with the girls’ effort tonight,” Hawk head coach Jerry Hulsing said. “Our defensive teamwork got better as the game went on forcing IMS out of their offensive rhythm. We did a better job of stopping their best player in the second half.”

Lynnville-Sully pushed out to a 16-9 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Hawks increased their lead to 38-18 going into halftime. They put in another 22 points in the third quarter and tossed in 15 points in the fourth period while holding IMS to 16 points for the whole second half.

The Hawks had four players score in double figures, led by senior Carson Fisk with 22 points. Junior Mallory Loftus had 14 points and senior Shiloh Cunningham had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Krystal Van Dyke had 10 points.

“It was good to have four girls in double figures,” Hulsing said. “We passed the ball pretty well and found the open girls. In the second half, we slowed down on offense which led to some easy baskets.”

Lynnville-Sully shot 51 percent, 33-of-64, from the field. The Hawks had three 3-pointers — two by Cunningham. They were 6-of-11 at the free-throw line.

Fisk made eight of the team’s 19 steals and junior Janelle Rozendaal, who finished with five points, had four steals. Fisk had seven rebounds and Loftus and Van Dyke each had six rebounds. The Hawks had a 45-25 advantage in rebounding.

Sophomore Cally Gibbs tossed in seven points. Scoring two points each were sophomores Caitlin Alberts, Megan Van Zante and Caylor Noun Harder. Loftus and Cunningham had four assists each.

IMS was 8-of-43 from the field, hitting four 3-pointers all by Suzanna Yoder who had 24 points. Yoder was 7-of-7 at the line as IMS was 10-of-16 on free throws. Yang Gutierrez had 13 rebounds. IMS had 25 turnovers.

Lynnville-Sully (1-0) hosts Baxter (0-1) on Tuesday in Sully. The varsity game tips off at 7:30 p.m.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com