Newton, CMB lose at North Polk Jamboree
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ALLEMAN — The new season of high school girls basketball is under way, and several teams around the state have played in jamborees the past couple of nights.
Tuesday night in Alleman eight teams hit the hardwood for a half of basketball, and both Newton and CMB came away with losses in their first looks of the new year.
Newton hung tough for a quarter before losing to Dallas Center-Grimes, 32-18, and the Collins-Maxwell-Baxter Raiders struggled to score points in a 29-14 loss against Saydel.
The North Polk Jamboree featured three teams from the Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference, four teams from the Raccoon River Conference and Newton of the Little Hawkeye Conference.
The first game of the night featured host North Polk against Perry, and the Comets rallied from an early hole to win 34-23. With Perry up 19-18 at one point, North Polk rolled off nine straight to grab the advantage for good.
Newton will play Perry on Saturday at the Saydel Tournament. The Jayettes got all but two of their points from Kaitlyn Lipovac and Jessica Nichols.
The second game of the night featured the Class 3A defending champion Ballard Bombers and Grandview Park Baptist.
And the Defenders had no chance as future Division I star Taylor Greenfield and Ballard won easily, 38-15.
The Bombers led 23-2 after the first quarter as Sammy Jensen and Jessie Wheeler controlled the outside, while Greenfield manned the paint. Greenfield finished with eight points in limited action as Ballard’s second team may have beaten the Defenders’ first unit.
Newton played the Fillies in the third game but were without three key players.
Amanda Jones was not in attendance due to a chorus trip, while sophomore Megan Wright and junior Michaela Wood were not in uniform due to injuries. Wright should return this year, but Wood suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury in practice Monday. She is scheduled to have an MRI today.
Even without those three components, the Cardinals played well early.
Ashton Yossi finished with 10 points to lead all scorers, but junior Allison Sheets kept Newton in the game with a 3-pointer and a bucket inside.
The Cardinals trailed 9-7 before Dallas Center-Grimes scored the final seven points of the quarter to lead 16-7 after one. The big run by the Fillies ended up being a 14-0 spurt as DC-G led 23-7.
Sheets ended the run with a pair of free throws. Junior Abbie Parker canned a triple and hit two free throws on consecutive possessions before two freebies by senior Val Humke made it 26-16.
The final two points were scored at the line by Taylor Peska, but Newton lost by 14. Sheets led the way with seven, while Parker added five.
The final game of the night featured CMB against the Saydel Eagles.
The Raiders struggled to get good looks on offense but were scrappy and aggressive defensively. Most of Saydel’s points early came on back-door cuts and lobs to the basket.
CMB trailed 16-4 after the first quarter as sophomore Sarah Galbraith and freshman Shelby Berg each recorded a bucket for the Raiders.
Senior Abby Maher began the second quarter with two free throws then got a steal on the other end. She converted the turnover into a coast-to-coast layup conversion to cut the lead to 16-8, but the Raiders did not score again until Galbraith’s jumper made it 24-10.
Junior Zeah Peterson hit back-to-back hoops to end the second period as the Raiders wound up losing by 15. Peterson, Galbraith and Maher all had four points for CMB.
Both Newton and CMB worked in several players as none of the teams wanted to show opposing coaches much for a scouting report. The Cardinals began the season Friday against Saydel at the Saydel Tournament. CMB will play Tuesday in Maxwell against conference rival Woodward-Granger.
