Tough shooting night hinders C-M girls against Pleasantville

COLFAX — A tough shooting night and too many turnovers plagued the Colfax-Mingo girls basketball team on Thursday.

The Tigerhawks defended Pleasantville well enough to win but shot just 19 percent from the floor and missed too many free throws during a 42-26 non-conference home loss.

“Early turnovers put us in a hole, and we just had a hard time scoring,” Colfax-Mingo head girls basketball coach Michaela Graffunder said. “We did a good job of holding them to 23 in the first half but have to find a way to match them offensively.”

The Tigerhawks trailed 11-5 after one quarter, but Isabelle Foglesong’s back-to-back buckets to open the second closed the gap to two points.

But Pleasantville used a 10-0 run to grab an advantage it wouldn’t give up. The Trojan spurt was filled with Tigerhawk turnovers and C-M finished just 1-of-16 from 3-point range in the game.

“We talked at halftime about trying to finish all the way at the rim or get fouled and not pulling up for those mid-range shots,” Graffunder said. “We saw that some in the fourth, but by that time it was too late.”

The other issue for Colfax-Mingo was with defensive rebounding. The Tigerhawks were superb at rebounding at the offensive end but struggled to end Pleasantville possessions with rebounds out of a new defensive look.

Colfax-Mingo used a triangle-and-two against Joelle Johnson and Taylor Perkins. And that created too much space for the Trojans to clean up their own misses. Twelve of the Tigerhawks’ 23 rebounds came at the offensive end of the floor.

“I think that played a factor in not being able to get defensive rebounds,” Graffunder said. “They weren’t quite in the right position to get those boards. That’s where we struggled a little bit.

“For the first time running that defense, we did a pretty good job. I think (Perkins) only had two points.

Perkins scored all four of her points in the third and Johnson scored 11 of her 13 in the first half. They came into the game averaging a combined 27.6 points per tilt.

Pleasantville (8-3) outscored C-M 16-7 in the third and an 8-0 run highlighted the frame for the Trojans. And their final bucket of the frame came on a second-chance opportunity at the buzzer.

The Tigerhawks scored the first eight points of the fourth and they came from five different players.

“I’m excited to see them continue to fight throughout the game,” Graffunder said. “That’s something we’ve done in every single game. I can’t think of a game where the girls have given up this year. With how young we are, that’s good to see and can continue to build on.”

Foglesong led the Tigerhawks (4-8) with 11 points and seven rebounds and Lydia Hansen added four points, six boards and two steals.

Dakota Allen finished with three points, five rebounds and two steals, Blain Houseman tallied six rebounds, three assists and two steals and Mallory Sipma grabbed five boards.

Mickinley Bucklin put in three points, Victoria Woods grabbed three rebounds and Katelyn Steenhoek pulled down two boards.

Colfax-Mingo shot 9-of-23 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 26 times.

It was Pleasantville’s seventh straight win over Colfax-Mingo and the Trojans are 7-1 in the series since 2006.

The Tigerhawks’ roster features no seniors and two juniors. C-M’s starting five has three freshmen and one sophomore and Pleasantville’s starting lineup includes multiple seniors.

“A lot of teams we play are full of seniors. The girls are used to it at this point,” Graffunder said. “The girls watch a lot of film. We are young, but the girls want to get better and compete. I hope to be in the position some of these other teams are in right now in a few years.

“Right now, we have two juniors and one of them is playing for the first time. We also only have 11 girls out so all of them will go play a half of junior varsity right now. They’ve gotten a lot of experience, and we are trying to mix them in as we go.”

Colfax-Mingo 43, Belle Plaine 16

BELLE PLAINE — Career nights from a trio of Tigerhawks lifted Colfax-Mingo to a 43-16 road win over Belle Plaine during South Iowa Cedar League play on Tuesday.

The Tigerhawks started fast and outscored the Lady Plainsmen in all four quarters.

Hansen matched a career-high with 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked a career-best six shots to lead Colfax-Mingo.

Houseman added a career-high 12 points, a career-best eight steals and two assists, Allen grabbed a career-most eight rebounds and Sipma chipped in seven points, three rebounds and three assists.

Foglesong collected eight points and two rebounds, Steenhoek tallied two rebounds, three assists and two steals, Woods registered three rebounds and two steals, Bucklin put in four points and Lilyan Hadsall pulled down three rebounds.

The Tigerhawks (4-8, 3-5 in the SICL) shot 31 percent from the floor, made 4-of-21 from 3 and connected on 5-of-12 from the foul line. They committed 18 turnovers.

Belle Plaine (1-10, 0-7) is 6-2 against Colfax-Mingo since 2016, but the Tigerhawks led 13-3 after one quarter and outscored their hosts 8-2 in the second and 13-4 in the third.