February 09, 2025

No. 14 DCG Fillies take LHC game against Cardinals

By Jocelyn Sheets
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Driving with the basketball is Newton High sophomore Chassidy Henwood with Dallas Center-Grimes' Riley Hall guarding her. The Class 4A 14th-ranked DCG Fillies were too much for the Cardinals to handle at home Monday in Little Hawkeye Conference play, as Newton lost 49-27. (Jocelyn Sheets)

Newton High’s Cardinal girls didn’t have an answer for Dallas Center-Grimes’ junior Jordan Cunningham in Monday’s Little Hawkeye Conference make-up game.

Cunningham led the visiting Class 4A No. 14 Fillies to a 49-27 win over the Cardinals. She had 17 points, as she controlled the inside game of the contest.

“She’s a heck of a basketball player and it tough. The problem is if you put a big on her, she can take it outside and put the ball on the floor. She can shoot — she’s almost 40 percent from the 3-point line,” Newton head coach Jason Carter said.

Carter said the Fillies did a good job of getting the ball down low to Cunningham in the post early. He said Cunningham finds ways to score.

“And if she’s not scoring she’s finding ways for other people to score,” Carter said. “She cost us on the glass too. I don’t know the rebounding totals but I bet she had double digits in rebounds also.”

Newton’s Abbie Barr kept the pace with the Fillies early, scoring two baskets. It was 4-4 then the Fillies had a 6-0 run off several Newton turnovers. The Fillies were scoring in transition.

A 3-pointer by Rachel Rhoads made it 10-7 then Cunningham scored seven straight points to close out the first quarter. DCG was up 17-7. Cunningham, who had 17 points for DCG, had the first basket of the second quarter.

The Cardinals answered with back-to-back buckets by Aurora Nehring and Mackenzie Baker to make it 19-11 at the 5-minute mark. The Fillies closed out the first half for a 27-13 lead at halftime.

Chassidy Henwood opened the third quarter with a basket for Newton but the next eight points were put up by the Fillies. It was 35-15 when Mackensie Brown scored for the Cardinals at the 3:07 mark.

Brown, who sat out the first half because of a coach’s decision according to Carter, led the Cardinals with 10 points. Rhoads had five. Barr and Baker each scored four points.

The Cardinals and Fillies each went 6-of-7 from the free-throw line.

DCG got 11 points from Julia Reis.

“We had spurts where we did some good things. It goes back to the pressure thing. We had been handling pressure pretty well the last couple of games, but I felt we took a step backwards against the pressure tonight,” Carter said.

Newton fell to 1-7 in LHC play and is 2-12 overall. The Cardinals play at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday in a conference game at Class 4A No. 4 Grinnell. On Thursday, Newton hosts Oskaloosa in LHC action and it is Newton’s “Conquering Cancer on the Court” Night.

DCG 17-10-15-7—49

Newton 7-6-8-6—27

Newton (FG/3-pt): Barr 2-0-0-4, Nehring 1-0-1-2, Henwood 1-0-2-2, Rhoads 1/1-0-2-5, Brown 3-4-0-10, Baker 1-2-2-4, Maher 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 9/1-6-8-27.

DCG (FG/3-pt): Osborn 2/1-0-3-7, Elfvin 1/1-3-2-8, Reis 4/1-0-1-11,Hall 0-0-1-0, Lampe 2-0-3-4, Cunningham 7-3-3-17, Nelson 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 17/3-6-13-49.

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