Baxter girls down Spartans, move one step closer to conference title

BAXTER — Ally Padget’s basketball mind is similar to her father, head coach Eric Padget.

She expects other teams to leave her open from outside. She feels like that’s a good strategy if your the other team playing against the Bolts.

Unfortunately for Collins-Maxwell, Padget hit two of the biggest shots in Thursday night’s Iowa Star Conference South Division matchup. And her seven points were all big during the Bolts’ 55-40 home win over the Spartans.

“If I were them, I wouldn’t guard me either. Just looking at the stats, I’m not a good shooter,” Ally Padget said. “I just wanted to keep shooting if I was open, don’t take dumb shots and set a lot of screens to get others open.”

Ally Padget was given a lot of open shots in the first half and she didn’t make any of them. In the third quarter, after Collins-Maxwell cut the Bolts’ lead to one, Padget’s first 3-pointer pushed the margin to four.

A few minutes later, and after starters Emie Tuhn and Mandee Selover went to the bench with four fouls apiece, Padget buried another triple, this time extending the home team’s lead to nine.

Baxter’s lead the rest of the way never got smaller than seven and the Bolts stayed unbeaten and remained in the driver’s seat for the conference title.

“She worked really hard the past two summers. She wanted to be an integral part of this program so bad her senior year,” said Baxter head coach Eric Padget, who happens to be Ally’s father. “She worked at 6 a.m. in our garage with ball handling and anything she could do to get better.”

The Bolts are now 14-0 on the season and 8-0 in Iowa Star Conference South Division play.

Both games this season against Collins-Maxwell had similar blueprints.

The Spartans led by one at halftime in Maxwell back in early December, but the Bolts outscored the hosts 35-22 in the second half to win by 12.

In the latest meeting, Baxter led by three at the break and used another big second half to win by double-digits. This time, the Bolts won the third quarter 15-7 and the second half 30-18.

“I am very proud of my girls. They are so coachable and so mentally tough,” Coach Padget said. “We were only up three at halftime and then they came back a little on us in the fourth, but the girls stayed calm and every time we asked them to do something they did it.”

Lilie Vansice put in 24 points in the team’s win over Collins-Maxwell in December. She got off to a fast start again on Thursday, scoring seven of the team’s nine first-quarter points.

The Bolts trailed 11-9 after one and fell behind 20-15 in the second after back-to-back buckets by Chloe Wierson. Vansice finished the period with six points and a big 3-pointer by reserve guard Bree Buswell helped the Bolts go into halftime with a 25-22 lead.

Ally Padget’s first 3-pointer in the third started a 12-0 run that included two Padget triples, four points from Vansice and a baseline jumper by Elie Tuhn.

Padget thought her second made trey was short when it left her hands.

“They were bigger to me when the crowd started reacting,” Ally Padget said. “I thought the second one was short. I even said it out loud so my teammates knew it was short. They were great passes from my teammates, too.”

Baxter led 40-29 after three. A 7-0 run in the fourth pushed the Bolts’ lead from eight to 15 and four free throws in the closing minute by Tuhn helped Baxter finish off the win.

Vansice leads the Bolts at 16.9 points per game and her 22 points Thursday led all scorers. She also had seven rebounds and three assists.

“This was a big a game for us,” Vansice said. “We all set a goal of winning the conference title at the beginning of the year and winning this game moves us a little closer to that goal. We have bigger goals, too, so hopefully we can keep it going.”

No other Baxter player scored in double figures, but Tuhn finished with eight points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Selover added five points, six rebounds, two assists, four steals and two blocks.

Ally Padget finished with seven points and four rebounds and Emie Tuhn registered seven points and two steals.

Emie Tuhn battled foul trouble but when she was on the floor she once again held Collins-Maxwell guard Erica Houge to single digits. Houge scored six points in the first meeting and was limited to just nine in the second game. She is averaging a team-best 16 points per game this season.

Alexis Houge also was held to nine points and Wierson added 12 points and 12 rebounds but stayed three points under her season scoring average.

“Lexi and Erica are two of the best players we will see this year. They are two of the best players in the conference and we have to focus on them if we want to have a chance to win,” Coach Padget said. “Fortunately for us, Elie and Emie are really good defenders. It was a short scout because we moved the game up so really we just talked about them last night. They did what we asked them to do.”

The Bolts got six points, two assists and two steals from Buswell off the bench. They won the game despite not having key reserve Abbie Meyer available for the game.

Baxter shot 46.3 percent from the floor, 5-of-17 from 3-point range and 12-of-23 from the free-throw line.

Collins-Maxwell (7-4 overall, 5-2 in conference play) connected on 31 percent from the floor, was 3-of-14 from long range and hit 7-of-16 from the line.

“We always get a good crowd for these games. The crowd gave us a ton of energy tonight,” said Vansice, who was playing a little under the weather. “We are all good friends, but when it comes to ball, you play your hardest and for your team.”

Notes: Collins-Maxwell scored 40 points in both regular-season meetings against Baxter. … The game was originally slated for Friday night but moved up a day to avoid the snowstorm ... Both teams used just seven players in the game despite several players being in foul trouble. Wierson and Selover eventually fouled out for their respective teams. … Baxter is one of only two girls basketball teams in the state with 14 wins. And the Bolts are the only undefeated team in Iowa who is not ranked.