L-S girls use 3 ball to pull away from English Valleys

SULLY — The Lynnville-Sully girls basketball team didn’t shoot the ball very well and turned it over 22 times against English Valleys on Friday night.

But the Class 1A No. 10 Hawks were aggressive on offense early and Kate Harthoorn created the necessary separation with four treys in the third quarter during a 45-33 home win over the Bears.

Lynnville-Sully started fast and overcame a strong second quarter from English Valleys during the South Iowa Cedar League win.

“We knew they were a good team,” Harthoorn said. “We expected them to be aggressive and physical so we just wanted to come out strong and that helped us overcome any droughts we went through on offense.”

The droughts came in the second and fourth quarters, but the Hawks attempted 12 free throws in the first and Harthoorn’s six 3s were enough to clinch a sixth straight win.

Lynnville-Sully (10-3, 7-2 in SICL) shot just 28 percent from the floor and were only 6-of-21 from 3. But the hosts made 11-of-20 from the free-throw line and forced English Valleys into 27 turnovers.

The Bears, whose first two SICL losses came by six points or less, shot only 31 percent from the floor and connected on just one shot from long range.

The Hawks led 9-0 and 12-1 and five of those points came from Harthoorn. Five of their 12 in the first came off free throws from Brilynn Tice, Breah Lowry, Alaina Roberts and Tatum Huyser.

“We missed several bunnies. It could have easily been 20-1 or whatever,” Lynnville-Sully head girls basketball coach Jerry Hulsing said. “We had good shots, and they had some decent shots they missed, too.

“We rebounded well to start but just didn’t execute very well on the offensive end. It was better in the second half.”

English Valleys rallied from its 12-3 hole with a 13-7 second quarter. Harthoorn made another 3, but the Bears closed to within 19-16 at halftime after a pair of free throws and a buzzer-beating, off-balanced 3 from Addison Achenbach.

It was English Valleys’ only 3 of the night, but it kept the game at one possession through two quarters.

“You’re going to throw some of those in, but the key in the second was they made some shots, and we didn’t score,” Hulsing said. “I bet we went three or four minutes without scoring. We turned it over too much.

“You have to live with that a little bit, but that’s why we work so hard to get those open looks. We have to make them eventually. The ball went into the hole more in the second half.”

A strong third put the game away for Lynnville-Sully though. The Hawks outscored their visitors 19-9 in the frame and Harthoorn buried four treys during that span.

Her final 3 pushed the Hawks’ advantage to 34-23 and they led 38-25 after three.

“I missed a few before that so I was just relieved to get back in the groove,” Harthoorn said. “We got our offense going in the third. I was struggling early, but they finally started going down, and it got us excited. The offense started clicking after that. The shots I made opened things up for others, too.”

The L-S advantage grew to 43-25 after the Hawks scored the first seven of the fourth, but the Bears won the final quarter 8-7.

Harthoorn finished with a game-high 21 points and added five rebounds, two assists and three steals.

“She was open. We moved the ball and they were overplaying stuff,” Hulsing said about Harthoorn’s shooting. “We were able to find her and she did the rest. I’m not looking to get the ball to one kid. I want to spread it out and want five players on the floor who can score. But she was open and knocked the shots down within the rhythm of the offense, and that was good to see.”

Huyser added seven points and seven rebounds, Lowry collected five points, three rebounds, four assists and seven steals and Roberts chipped in three points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Tice contributed four points, two rebounds and three assists, Isabelle Vos tallied three points and five boards and Brooke Harthoorn pulled down four rebounds.

The Hawks played the game without second-leading scorer Ava Brummel, who is out indefinitely with a hip injury.

“We are going to try to get some more information in about a week,” Hulsing said. “It will be what it is until she’s healthy.

“We have to figure it out. We don’t know when Ava is coming back. That safety net is not there right now. We just need to make the shots and execute down there. We may have been pressing tonight. English Valleys has good size and are scrappy. We just have to slow down and calm down. I think it will come though.”

Anna Luers led English Valleys (7-4, 6-3) with 13 points, seven rebounds and eight steals. Ava Gehrking added 10 rebounds and six blocks.

The Bears shot 31 percent from the floor, made 1-of-5 from 3 and connected on 6-of-14 from the foul line.