COLFAX — Nevada’s intimidating presence inside was too much for the Colfax-Mingo girls’ basketball team Tuesday.
The Class 3A No. 7 Cubs got 21 points from junior Kati Cassabaum and Nevada sprinted past the Tigerhawks, 67-23, in the Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The Cubs also buried seven 3-pointers in the game, including three from Alli Fey.
Nevada led 14-3 after one, 38-14 at halftime and blew it open even more with a 20-1 advantage in the third that triggered the 35-point continuous clock.
Seniors Ivy Moore and Sara Lahart both had six points for Colfax-Mingo, which dropped to 0-2 on the season following the loss. Freshman McKeely Tjaden added five points, a team-high five rebounds and two assists. Lahart, sophomore Dakota Hostetter and sophomore Reagan Nichol all had four boards apiece, too.
“We have to understand that we just have to keep fighting the whole time,” C-M coach Michelle Grant said. “We just have to learn from this. There are wins down the road for us. Nevada isn’t it.”
The Cubs were dominant inside but also hit big shots from outside all night.
After knocking connecting from deep in the opening period, Alli Fey, Claire Ausman and Izzy Kapustka all buried triples in the second to put away Colfax-Mingo.
Ausman and Fey also began the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers and then Fey and Kapustka hit each drilled another one later in the period.
The seven 3-pointers from outside and Cassabaum’s dominance inside allowed the Nevada starters to sit most of the fourth quarter. Nevada still outscored the Tigerhawks (0-2, 0-1) 9-8 in the final frame.
The Tigerhawks did a decent job of making the Cubs (2-0, 1-0) beat them from outside. On the flip side, the hosts were just 9-of-35 from the floor and 5-of-14 from the line in the loss.
Fey was the other Cub in double-figures as she finished with 11, while Ausman and Kapustka each added eight.
“We forced them to make shots from outside, but they hit some big shots from out there,” Grant said. “There bigs are really good, but my tallest player is 5-foot-8-inch so it was a tough matchup for us from the start.”
Moore scored four of her six points in the final frame, while Tjaden put in all five of her points in the second quarter.
“She’s a good ball player,” Grant said of Tjaden. “Se only comes off the bench because she’s a freshman and she can play any position I need her to play.”
The Tigerhawks will be off a full week for the Thanksgiving break but return to the court Tuesday at home against Greene County. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.
Nevada, which began the season with a 13-point win over Boone last Friday, will host Collins-Maxwell/Baxter on Tuesday.
Nevada 14-24-20-9—64
Colfax-Mingo 3-11-1-8—33
Nevada (FG-3pt-FT-TP): Ausman 3-2-0-8, Stephenson 2-0-1-5, Fey 4-3-0-11, Cassabaum 9-0-3-21, Koudelka 2-0-0-4, Coogler 1-0-0-2, See 1-0-0-2, Kapustka 3-2-0-8, Rhodes 1-0-0-2. Totals 26-7-4-64
Colfax-Mingo (FG-3pt-FT-F-TP): Haley 1-0-0-4-2, Moore 3-0-0-1-6, Lahart 2-0-2-1-6, Hostetter 1-0-0-1-2, Nichol 1-0-0-1-2, Reese 0-0-0-0-0, Tjaden 0-0-0-0-0, Colville 0-0-0-0-0. Totals 9-0-5-9-33.