Pella uses full-court pressure to down Newton girls

Coming off their worst loss of the season, Newton head girls basketball coach Jake Bennett wanted his Cardinal squad to play physical, aggressive and with no fear against Class 4A No. 10 Pella on Friday night.

Newton’s start was solid, but the Cardinals turned the ball over too many times against their rival’s full-court pressure and Pella returned home with a 75-47 road win during Little Hawkeye Conference play on Christmas in the Gym Night.

“We knew we’d have to face a press tonight. We needed to face it head on and execute,” Bennett said. “At first, we did pretty well. They revved things up on us and sped us up. Pella’s a good team and they’ve beaten some good teams lately. We handled things well at times but have to figure out how to do it for four quarters.”

The Cardinals scored the first four points of the game, but Pella used a 13-0 run to grab a lead and never trailed again.

The Dutch outscored Newton 15-6 in the first, 21-11 in the second, 16-13 in the third and 23-17 in the fourth.

It was the fifth straight win for Pella, and the Dutch have downed Newton (4-3, 0-3 in the LHC) in 25 straight meetings. The Dutch turned the ball over 16 times but had a nine-point advantage at the free-throw line and out-rebounded the Cardinals 40-30.

Tori White scored four of Newton’s six points in the first and had six of her seven in the first half. She scored the first bucket of the game and ended the Dutch’s 13-0 run late in the first.

Pella’s Katie Scheckel scored seven of her 14 points in the first and Kamryn Long answered Newton’s 5-0 run with nine straight points to push Pella’s lead to 24-11 in the second. Long led the Dutch with 21 points and 14 of those came in the second.

Bennett used a lineup of three freshmen and one sophomore for an extended period of time in the third after Alex Garvis, Hailey Dickerson and White all battled foul trouble in the first half.

Pella (7-2, 1-1) scored the first four points of the third, but Newton used a 10-2 run to close the gap to 42-28. Alex Riney started a 9-0 spurt with a 3-pointer and ended it with a bucket inside. In between Addyson Cibula made two free throws and canned a jumper.

“The foul trouble allowed the younger girls to get into the game and then they started playing well,” Bennett said. “We started getting turnovers, which didn’t allow them to press. That group brought the lead down to 12 and it allowed Tori and Hailey time to make sure we had them in the fourth. They stepped up when we needed them to but then we got sped back up in the fourth and never could get closer.”

The Dutch answered Newton’s run with a 9-0 spurt of their own and pushed the margin back to 51-28.

Payton Carkhuff scored five of her nine points in the third, but Pella led 54-32 after 24 minutes and opened the fourth with a 9-3 run.

Riney scored 11 of her career-high 14 points in the second half. Six of those came in the fourth as she made another 3 late in the game. She added six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

“She does a good job of getting into the paint. We’ve been working with her on jump stopping and figuring out her options when she gets in there,” Bennett said about Riney. “We want her to look to score if it’s there, but she also found Evie (Main) on a 3 at one point. She did a good job and her teammates gave her the room to work in there, too.”

White added three rebounds and two assists to her seven points, while Carkhuff had nine points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals. Evie Main finished with six points and two boards, Cibula collected six points and three rebounds to lead the reserves and Garvis grabbed four rebounds and dished out two assists.

Dickerson grabbed four rebounds, Camryn Klein finished with three boards and Brooke Garvis corralled two rebounds. Sophia Coady scored three points.

The Cardinals shot 34 percent from the floor, made 5-of-16 from 3 and hit 10-of-17 from the foul line. They committed 22 turnovers.

“Our first few games and these last two we saw the press,” Bennett said. “I think with time we’ll start to get used to it more and will handle it better. DCG’s press tore us a part. It was a little bit better tonight, but we have to build on it and get it to be more consistent.”

The Dutch made 49 percent from the floor, buried 19-of-28 from the foul line and connected on 6-of-20 from 3.