Cards roll by Indians, suffer loss to Huskies
Like the boys basketball team, Newton girls coach Judy Nissly thought her team could win the final two games before the holiday break begins.
That hope was half right this weekend as the Cardinals dominated Oskaloosa on Friday but had a poor offensive showing Saturday in a home loss to Winterset.
The Cardinals trailed 20-2 after one quarter against the Huskies and fell 41-18 in front of a home crowd in Newton on Saturday.
“We didn’t come out with a lot of energy,” Nissly said. “They made open shots, and we did zero in the first quarter.”
Friday, Newton scored a season-high in points during a 47-25 win at rival Oskaloosa.
“In that game, we pushed the tempo with our press, forcing them into a lot of turnovers,” Nissly said. “We got a lot of easy buckets, played with a lot of energy and had fun.”
Saturday was completely the opposite. It was Winterset who took advantage of turnovers as 17 first-half miscues by Newton led to a 27-8 halftime deficit.
“We didn’t move around at all on offense,” Nissly said. “We like to stand around and watch. We were really flat.”
The game didn’t get much better in the third as the Cardinals (3-7, 1-4) again could only muster two points. They finished with an eight-point fourth quarter but were still held to less than 20 points for the game.
Junior Nicole George led the team with six points and five rebounds, while senior Keria Huyser and junior Allison Sheets each had four. Sheets also had four boards, three assists and five steals.
Val Humke, the team’s leading scorer, was held to just one point. She was highly ineffective after getting into foul trouble and fouled out of the game with 6:04 to play in the game.
Friday, Humke scored 15 points, pulled down four rebounds and had six steals to lead the Cardinals to a road win.
A balanced attack also saw Sheets and Amanda Jones each score seven, while George and Abbie Parker put in six each.
Parker also had eight boards, while Jones pitched in six rebounds and five steals. Newton had 21 steals in the game.
“It was a nice balanced attack,” Nissly said. “Everyone chipped in.”
Notes: After the first quarter Saturday, Newton was only outscored 21-16. ... Newton did not hit a 3-pointer and was 6-for-8 from the line. Oskaloosa was 17-for-24 from the charity stripe. ... The Cardinals were 6-of-38 from the floor and 0-of-14 from long range.
Saturday
Winterset 41, Newton 18
Score by quarters
WHS 20 7 5 9 — 41
NHS 2 6 2 8 — 18
Individual statistics
Scoring — Nicole George 6, Keria Huyser 4, Allison Sheets 4, Abbie Parker 2, Taylor Peska 1, Val Humke 1. Rebounds —17 (George 5, Sheets 4). Assists — 6 (Sheets 3). Steals — 15 (Sheets 5, Amanda Jones 3).
