Cardinals finish fourth in Cardinal Classic

Go out and compete is what Newton High head coach Brandon Sharp told his players.

“Do that and positive things happen,” Sharp said.

Despite back-to-back losses and a fourth-place finish in the Newton Cardinal Classic Holiday Basketball Tournament over the weekend, positive things did happen for the Newton Cardinal girls.

On Friday night, the Cardinals competed well against Bondurant-Farrar until a cold shooting spell hit in the second half and a rash of turnovers. The Lady Jays won 47-38.

Newton came back on Saturday to face Iowa Class 2A fourth-ranked Des Moines Christian’s Lions in the consolation contest. Des Moines Christian fell 58-54 to Class 4A’s No. 2 ranked Carlisle Friday night.

Again, the Cardinals competed tough against the Lions, taking an early lead. Des Moines Christian’s Zimmer sisters — sophomore Beth and senior Brittany — had the hot hands in the game. Beth Zimmer ripped the cords for five 3-pointers on her way to 17 points and Brittany fired in a game-high 18 points to spur the Lions on to a 55-42 win.

Carlisle captured the tournament championship with a 62-44 win over Bondurant-Farrar Saturday. Carlisle’s Shelbie Curry won the 3-point shooting contest.

Curry led a three-player contingent for the Wildcats on the all-tournament team. Joining her were teammates Kaleigh Haus and Agatha Beier along with Newton’s Hannah Rhoads, Des Moines Christian’s Elsa Anderson and Emily Wilson and Amy Stock of Bondurant-Farrar.

“We did compete in both games. I’m very proud of the group of girls we have. It doesn’t matter who were going up against, they are going to compete all the time,” Sharp said after Saturday’s game. “We’ve stressed to not compare ourselves with who is next to use, whether it is a game or practice. It’s about getting better. We got better in these two games.”

Juniors Hannah Rhoads, Sydney Jenkins and senior Michaela Jacobsen hit a 3-pointer apiece and Jessica Reynolds had a basket to give Newton an 11-4 lead by the 3:24 mark of the first quarter Saturday. Following a timeout, the Lions rattled off eight unanswered points for the 12-11 advantage at the end of the period.

With 6-foot-2-inch senior Elsa Anderson and 6-foot-3-inch sophomore Mia Rosener patrolling the inside and the Zimmer sisters out on the perimeter, the Lions have a strong balance at both ends of the court. Anderson contributed nine points.

The Cardinals fell behind 18-11 early in the second quarter. Ryanne Rausch, a sophomore, came off the bench to score eight of her 10 points to help the Cards close to within two, 23-21, with a minute remaining. Beth Zimmer buried a 3-pointer to push the Lions’ lead to 26-21 at the break.

Turnovers hurt the Cardinals both nights. They did trim things down a bit on Saturday, committing 20 instead of 27 as they did against Bondurant-Farrar.

“Our turnovers come down to decision making. We were a little better today (Saturday), but we can’t pass over two 6-foot players like we attempted to at times,” Sharp said. “I was pleased with the adjustments we made at halftime.”

Newton scored the opening five points of the third period on baskets by Jenkins and Michaela Jacobsen and a free throw from Reynolds. Beth Zimmer broke the 26-all tie with a trey to spark a 15-1 run by the Lions.

Rhoads had back-to-back baskets, including a scoop shot to get the ball past the outstretched arms of Anderson and Rosener inside, to begin the fourth quarter. That got the Cardinals back within 10, 41-31. Rhoads hit a 3-pointer to offset a three-point play by Brittany Zimmer, but the Lions went inside twice to get buckets from Anderson and Rosener.

Rhoads finished 14 points and Jenkins added 10. Junior Alex Hutchinson led Newton with four of the team’s nine steals and dished out three assists. Michaela Jacobsen grabbed nine of Newton’s 45 rebounds.

The Cardinals went right to work in their opener Friday night. Jenkins hit a pull-up jumper in the lane. Junior Victoria Jordan came off the bench and nailed a 3-pointer followed by a basket by Rhoads.

Newton appeared to be in control against Bondurant-Farrar, leading 7-1 at the 5:35 mark of the first quarter. Emily Wilson answered with four points for the Lady Jays to pull them within two points.

Rhoads’ three-point play pushed the Cardinals back up to five points. Jenkins drove the length of the court for a field goal and Rhoads added a bucket with 25 seconds on the clock. Newton was up 14-5 after one quarter.

Newton’s Michaela Jacobsen got untracked with a field goal and a 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a 19-12 lead midway through the second quarter. A trey by Amy Stock capped a 7-0 run by the Lady Jays to tie the game with 1:56 on the clock.

Senior guard Macy Leonard sank the front end of a one-and-one to give the lead back to the Cards. Hutchinson’s basket 25 seconds later had Newton up 22-19. Bondurant-Farrar hit two free throws in the final minute to close the gap to one point, 22-21, at the break.

Newton executed its offense to continue getting good shots in the second half. There was one problem — the shots were not falling. Another problem for the Cardinals were turnovers.

“We were getting the shots we wanted. We were right at the basket and couldn’t finish,” Sharp said. “We have to finish those and score. Most of our 29 turnovers came in the second half. We have to take care of the basketball better.”

Bondurant-Farrar wasn’t having much more luck offensively in the third quarter. Trulson hit a three to put the Lady Jays in front for the first time in the game, 24-22. Jenkins sank one of two free throws for Newton which as countered at the other end by Lizzy Trulson. Jenkins tied the game at 25-25 with a basket.

Trulson converted a Newton turnover into a fastbreak basket. Jacobsen blocked a shot and got the steal for Newton which led to a basket by Rausch with 6.6 seconds left to knot the game up at 27-all at the end of three quarters.

The Cardinals went scoreless the first four minutes of the final period while the Lady Jays drilled two 3-pointers in a 10-0 run. Down 39-29 with three minutes remaining, Rausch took a pass from across the lane from Rhoads to score then Rhoads connected from outside the 3-point arc.

Newton trailed by five with 2:28 on the clock. Bondurant-Farrar closed it out by downing 8 of 10 free throws. The Lady Jays were 16-of-26 from the line in the game compared to 3-of-11 on free throws for the Cardinals.

Rhoads paced the Cardinals with 10 points, six rebounds and three steals. .Jenkins tossed in seven points. Michaela Jacobsen control 10 rebounds and Hutchinson had four assists.

Wilson led the Lady Jays with 12 points. Trulson contributed nine points. Bondurant-Farrar hit five 3-pointers, three of those came in the second half.

Newton (0-2) plays its third game in four days Monday at Perry.

Saturday’s Game

Des Moines Christian  12-14-15-14—55

Newton  11-10-6-15—42

Newton (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Rausch 4-2-3-10, Jenkins 3/1-1-1-10, Moon 0-0-2-0, Jordan 0-0-2-0, Hutchinson 0-0-1-0, Reynolds 1-1-1-3, Shipley 0-0-1-0, Horn 0-0-1-0, M. Jacobsen 1/1-0-2-5, Rhoads 3/2-2-2-14. TOTALS: 12/4-6-16-42.

Des Moines Christian (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Be. Zimmer 0/5-2-2-17, Crook 0-0-1-0, Prewitt 1-2-2-4, Stephens 1-1-2-3, Br. Zimmer 7/1-1-2-18, Rosener 2-0-5-4, Feldt 0-0-1-0, Anderson 4-1-1-9. TOTALS: 16/6-7-16-55.

Friday’s Game

Bondurant-Farrar  5-16-6-20—47

Newton  14-8-5-11—38

Newton (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Rausch 2-0-1-4, Jenkins 3-1-2-7, Leonard 0-1-0-1, Moon 0-0-1-0, Jordan 1/1-0-2-5, Hutchinson 3-0-4-6, Reynolds 0-0-1-0, Horn 0-0-2-0, M. Jacobsen 1/1-0-5-5, Rhoads 3/1-1-4-10, Smith 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 13/3-3-23-38.

Bondurant-Farrar (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Farmer 1-1-0-3, Trulson 2/1-2-2-9, McShane 1-0-0-2, Wilson 1/1-7-3-12, Gaber 1/1-2-4-7, Kamman 0/1-4-4-7, Stock 2/1-0-4-7, Campbell 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 8/5-16-18-47.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at 641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com