Baxter girls stay red hot, rout Meskwaki, Madrid

MESKWAKI SETTLEMENT — A big first half and balanced scoring led Baxter's girls' basketball team to an easy win over Meskwaki Settlement School on Tuesday night.

The Bolts led 47-16 at halftime and cruised to an 80-37 road victory during Iowa Star Conference South Division play.

Baxter has now won five straight games since dropping its opener.

McKenzie Eslinger led the Bolts (5-1 overall, 3-0 in the conference) with 17 points and eight rebounds. Elie Tuhn had 13 points, seven assists, six steals and four rebounds and Maddie Pierce, Lilie Vansice and Bree Buswell all scored nine points.

Vansice added three rebounds and three assists, Pierce chipped in four steals and two boards and Merrin Ziesman scored six points and had four rebounds.

The nine points for Buswell were a career-high. So were the seven points from Allyson Padget, who also tallied two rebounds and two steals. Sophie Meyer contributed five points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals, Cassy Berg scored four points, Mandee Selover grabbed seven boards and Brooke Bacon tallied two assists and two steals.

The Bolts shot 53 percent from the floor, buried six treys and made 12-of-22 from the free-throw line.

Baxter 51, Madrid 25

BAXTER — The Bolts improved to 5-1 all-time against Madrid following a 51-25 non-conference home win on Thursday night.

Baxter led the Tigers (1-5) 26-16 at halftime and outscored Madrid 14-0 in the third.

Tuhn led the Bolts with 16 points, two rebounds, two assists and seven steals. Ziesman had 10 points, Pierce finished with nine points and three assists and Meyer tallied eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Selover grabbed nine boards, Vansice had four points, three assists and two steals and Berg and Eslinger each pulled down four rebounds.

Baxter, whose game against Valley Lutheran on Friday was postponed due to weather, has outscored its last five opponents 311-138.