March 29, 2024

Bobcats stymie Cardinal girls

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Attitude and preparation is what Newton High girls’ basketball head coach Brandon Sharp is concerned about after six games this season.

The Cardinal girls dropped a 47-34 decision at home Tuesday to the Marshalltown’s Bobcats. Newton allowed the Bobcats to scurry to a 6-0 lead to begin the game, worked back into the game, and let Marshalltown walk to the line to regain a 23-15 halftime lead.

“Right now, we’re not mentally tough enough. We’re making games harder than practices and we need to reverse that,” Sharp said. “We had three days to prepare for this game. Although each practice had its highlight, the girls didn’t practice hard enough. That is going to change.”

Newton’s Ryanne Rausch broke the scoring seal for her team with 4:36 left in the first quarter. Michaela Jacobsen scored with 1:02 on the clock and the Cardinals faced a 13-4 deficit heading into the second quarter.

They responded by holding the Bobcats scoreless for five-and-a-half minutes. In that span, the Cardinals got five points from Jessica Reynolds, who had two follow shots go in.

Reynolds, Newton’s solid inside presence in the game, picked up her second foul and went to the Cardinal bench with five minutes left in the first half.

Sydney Jenkins’ driving layup cut the Marshalltown lead to two points, 13-11, with 2:42 left.

“We worked our way back in the game with great defense in that second quarter. But we allowed them to get away again by putting them on the line,” Sharp said. “They had a 7-0 run to push back out to a bigger lead.”

Kyra Hungerford and Rachel Blagg converted at the free-throw line and Regan Mazour got an easy bucket off a play under the basket. Down 20-13, Jenkins flew down the court for another driving layup and Ellie Horn sank two free throws to cut the margin to five with 48 seconds remaining to play.

Tabby Steffensen dropped in another free throw for Marshalltown. Mazour scored just before the buzzer to put the Bobcats up 23-15 at halftime.

“We picked it up and played our game in the second quarter, but again our decision making hurt us. We had a lot of retaliation fouls tonight that cost us. We committed fouls 60 feet away from the basket,” Sharp said.

Free throw shooting was a big factor. Marshalltown cashed in on 13-of-19 at the line. Newton hit four of 16 attempts. The Cardinals were 3-of-10 at the line in the first half.

Newton’s Michaela Jacobsen drilled a 3-pointer to start the third quarter which was countered by a three-point play from Blagg. The Cardinals did not have an answer for Blagg on the inside. She scored 16 points. Reynolds committed her third foul on the play with 6:23 left in the third quarter.

Alex Hutchinson, who had six rebounds, two steals and three assists for the Cardinals, scored to make it 26-20. Unfortunately, Marshalltown rattled off eight unanswered points on its way to a 36-24 lead at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter began with promise for the Cardinals. Hannah Rhoads downed a three, then Michaela Jacobsen had a three-point play and a transition basket for Newton. The Cardinals were within eight, 40-32, with 3:34 left in the game.

That was as close as the Cardinals got. Marshalltown outscored Newton, 7-2, in the final stretch, hitting 5-of-8 free throws to seal the win.

Michaela Jacobson paced the Cardinals with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Cardinals shot 30 percent, 14-of-46, from the field. Jenkins had five rebounds. Horn pulled seven rebounds and blocked three shots.

Marshalltown got 12 points from Hungerford to go with Blagg’s 16.

That was Newton’s final home game before Christmas. The Cardinals (1-5) take a 1-0 Little Hawkeye Conference mark to Dallas Center-Grimes next Friday for the last game before the holiday break.

Newton dominated the junior varsity game 51-12. Rausch paced the junior varsity with 12 points and Jaci Twaddle added 11. Moon, Taylor Shipley and Ellie Horn each contributed six points.

Newton won the freshman game 43-26. Marcelina Marvelli fired in 12 points and Taylor Ryan had 11 points. Freshman coach Eric Vander Velden said the Cardinals started off strong both on offense and defense, but got a little sluggish in the second half. Newton led 20-4 after the first quarter.

Marshalltown  13-10-13-11—47

Newton  4-11-9-10—34

Marshalltown (FG/3-pt): Hungerford 1/2-4-4-12, Major 3-3-1-9, Hughes 2-0-5-4, Steffensen 0-2-2-2, Mazour 2-0-1-4, Blagg 6-4-2-16. TOTALS: 14/2-13-15-47.

Newton (FG/3-pt): Rausch 1-0-4-2, Jenkins 2-0-1-4, Moon 0-0-2-0, Hutchinson 1-0-4-2, Reynolds 2-1-4-5, Horn 0-2-1-2, M. Jacobsen 6/1-1-3-16, Rhoads 0/1-0-2-3. TOTALS: 12/2-4-21-34.

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