Newton girls fall to pair of state-ranked rivals

GRIMES — The Newton girls basketball team was in a good spot at halftime against Class 4A No. 1 Dallas Center-Grimes on Tuesday.

But the Mustangs came out of the gates strong in the second half and a big third quarter propelled the defending state champions to a 67-32 home win during Little Hawkeye Conference play.

The Cardinals trailed by eight at halftime, but DCG outscored its visitors 26-5 in the third and 14-8 in the fourth.

Newton was plagued by 23 turnovers and it only made 2-of-12 from 3-point range. The Cardinals (2-10, 0-8 in the conference) shot 37 percent from the floor and connected on 4-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Alex Garvis led the Cardinals with seven points and two rebounds. Tori White grabbed nine of the team’s 19 rebounds and added three points and two steals.

Alex Riney tallied six points and two assists, Hailey Dickerson contributed six points and three boards and Evie Main chipped in three points and two rebounds. Bella Winther scored three points and Payton Carkhuff pulled down three rebounds.

Dallas Center-Grimes (12-3, 6-0) improved to 23-0 against Newton since 2014.

Norwalk 58, Newton 23

A slow start plagued the Cardinals on Monday during their make-up conference matchup with 4A No. 8 Norwalk.

Newton turned the ball over 26 times and shot only 19 percent from the floor during a 58-23 home loss.

The Warriors led 16-1 after one and never trailed to claim their 15th straight win over Newton.

Norwalk outscored the Cardinals in all four quarters, made 9-of-35 from 3 and buried 12-of-19 from the foul line.

Newton was 2-of-19 from 3 and 5-of-10 from the foul line.

Garvis led the Cardinals with seven points and three rebounds, Dickerson added four points and six boards and White grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

Riney tallied five points and three rebounds, Main collected three points and four boards and Carkhuff grabbed three rebounds. Winther and Estella Allen each corralled two boards.

Norwalk (12-2, 5-1) got 30 points from Bailey Birmingham, who leads the state in scoring at 26 points per game. She was 5-of-9 from 3, grabbed seven rebounds and swiped five steals.