March 19, 2024

2-for-2: Cardinal girls deck Perry

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Just when Perry’s Jayettes thought they were within reach of pulling a road win out, Newton High senior guard Taylor Moon toed the 3-point line and netted a key basket for the Cardinals Tuesday night. Perry had whittled Newton’s 15-point lead down to three, 50-47, with 1:50 remaining in the contest.

“I was open. When I let it go, I was a bit shaky about it, but then I saw it go in,” Moon said following the 56-47 victory. “We found out we can play together when we aren’t playing our best and come out with a win.”

Newton’s girls are in unchartered waters for most of the 2015-16 team — they are 2-0 to start the season.

“It’s a great feeling since we haven’t done it for awhile,” Moon said. “We know we have a lot of work yet to do, but right now it’s pretty cool.”

Perry came in and pushed to a 6-4 lead. Newton hit just three 3-pointers in the game. Senior guard Sydney Jenkins triggered in the first one with 4:15 left in the first quarter to give the Cardinals the lead for good.

Hannah Rhoads, senior forward, knocked down a field goal to put Newton up 9-6. Perry’s Taylor Lathrum, a senior post player, kept her team in the game at the free-throw line. Lathrum dropped in four foul shots to make it 13-12 at the end of the period.

“We have to learn to play solid defense without fouling,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said. “We put them on the line all night. At the end, we gave up some easy baskets and the free throws to let them get back into the game.”

Sharp said he never believed his team was not in control of the game, but when a team goes 16-of-27 at the foul line against your team, there’s some concern down the stretch. Newton shot 13 free throws, hitting seven.

With a one-point lead, the Cardinals quickly set the tone in the second quarter. Junior Ryanne Rausch scored and was fouled, but missed the free throw. Rhoads drilled a trey to bump the lead up to 18-12 at there 7:11 mark.

Senior guard Victoria Jordan came off the bench and made a pass to Rausch for a fastbreak bucket. At the midway mark of the second quarter, Newton was up 20-17. Jenkins connected and Rhoads had a outback basket to make it 24-19.

Rausch, who was 4-of-9 at the line, sank a free throw with 45 seconds left in the first half. The Cardinals took a 25-19 advantage into halftime.

Newton opened the third quarter on a 9-3 run to stretch its lead to 10 points, 34-24. The Cardinals were scoring in transition, had follow shots off offensive rebound and hit jumpers. Newton had 10 players score points in the contest.

Senior post player Jessica Reynolds sank two free throws with 2:43 on the clock to maintain the 10-point margin for Newton. Moon hit a jumper then made a pass inside to junior Ellie Horn, who scored. The Cardinals led 42-31 after three quarters.

With baskets by Rausch, Jenkins and Rhoads in the first three minutes of the final period, Newton’s lead was 48-37. Foul troubles mounted for the Cardinals, which Perry took advantage of in mounting a comeback.

“I put our players in some adverse situations at times tonight. I wanted to see how we’d respond to adversity. Like I said before, we were in control and I did some things to push us a little,” Sharp said.

“They did make the run at us late. I really wanted the ball to come back out up top when Taylor shot the three, but it went in. The energy we played with defensively after that was great. Tonight we had a great atmosphere here at home with the student fans and the pep band.”

In the end, the Cardinals held the Jayettes in check. Newton’s defense limited Perry’s shot attempts as the Jayettes hit 15 total field goals, which included one 3-pointer. Unofficially, Newton was 23-of-58 from the field overall and 3-of-12 from 3-point range.

Jenkins led Newton with 13 points followed by Rausch with 12. Rhoads added nine points. Reynolds scored six points and pulled down seven rebounds. Senior Alex Hutchinson had five rebounds.

Lathrum and Grace Marburger each had 14 points to pace the Jayettes.

It was a sweep for the Newton girls Tuesday. The freshmen girls rolled to a 45-26 win over Carlisle after taking a 24-6 lead by halftime. The Cardinal junior varsity staged a rally in the fourth quarter to get past Perry, 26-22.

In their first game of the season, Newton’s freshmen were led by Payton Maher with 15 points and eight rebounds. Rachel Rhoads had seven points and 11 rebounds. Teddie Brunsmann tossed in six points and Lakin Jenkins had five points. Maddi Thayer and Abbie Barr each had four points while Brittney McConnell and Emily Valtman had two points apiece.

Newton’s junior varsity trailed 15-10 at the break and was down 18-12 heading into the final period against Perry. The Cardinals went on an eight-point run to tie and take the lead, 20-18, on back-to-back baskets by Ryan Taylor and Randi Walters.

Walters nailed her third 3-pointer of the game to put Newton up 23-20 at the 1:18 mark. The Cardinals held off the Jayettes for the four-point win. Walters ended up with 13 points followed by Ali Bestell with six points. Taylor scored three. Anna Forsyth and Addy Blom had two points apiece.

Newton plays its third straight home game Tuesday when Winterset comes to NHS. The freshman game, which will be just two quarters, starts at 4:45 followed by the junior varsity at 6:15 p.m. and the varsity at 7:30 p.m.

Perry  12-7-12-15—47

Newton  13-12-17-14—56

Newton (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Rausch 4-4-1-12, Jenkins 5/1-0-4-13, Moon 1/1-0-0-5, Jordan 0-0-2-0, Hutchinson 1-0-1-2, Reynolds 2-2-0-6, Shipley 1-0-2-2, Jacobsen 1-0-1-2, Horn 2-0-1-4, Pressgrove 0-1-2-1, Rhoads 3/1-0-3-9. TOTALS: 20/3-7-20-56.

Perry (Fg/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Lathrum 5-4-4-14, Duffy 1-4-1-6, Hegstrom 2-0-2-4, Marburger 3/1-5-0-14, Olejniczak 1-3-2-5, Diw 2-2-0-4. TOTALS: 14/1-16-13-47.

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