March 29, 2024

Cardinal squads fall to ranked Pella teams; Area Prep Basketball Roundup

Newton hosted ranked Pella basketball teams Friday night and lost in Little Hawkeye Conference play. Prairie City-Monroe’s girls and boys swept Heart of Iowa Conference games against North Polk while Colfax-Mingo’s girls and boys split a South Iowa Cedar League doubleheader.

Lynnville-Sully and Collins-Maxwell/Baxter teams were idle Friday

3A No. 2 Pella boys 84, Newton boys 83 in OT

The Little Hawkeye Conference showdown at Newton High’s gym Friday night was like a boxing match. Newton High’s Cardinals and the Class 3A second-ranked Pella Little Dutch traded punches right to end of regulation and into an extra round.

Pella junior Landon VanderLeest drained a 3-pointer from the corner with less than seven seconds remaining in overtime. The Cardinals took a time out with 6.5 seconds on the clock trailing 84-81.

Cardinal senior Connor Gholson fired up a trey in an attempt to tie the game but missed. Gholson was fouled on the shot sending him to the free-throw line with no time on the clock. Gholson needed to hit all three attempts to force another extra period.

Gholson’s first free throw was off the mark, which gave the win to Pella. He downed the final two shots to leave the Cardinals one point shy, 84-83.

“I’m proud of our guys. Pella is a very good 3A team and can go up against the 4A teams as well. So can we,” Newton head coach Bill Liley said after the loss. “This was a playoff game atmosphere with a great crowd. The fans got there money’s worth. This game will help us get better.”

Newton had an opportunity to win the game at the end of regulation. Junior Garrett Sturtz’s shot came up short, but senior Morgan Maher was fouled battling for the rebound as time ran out. Officials put .05 back on the clock as Maher faced a one-and-one. Maher missed and the teams went into a four-minute overtime tied 71-71.

The teams were tied at 76-76 when Pella’s Ryan VanWyk hit a 3-pointer and Drew Pringle sank two free throws to push the Dutch to an 81-76 lead. Gholson drilled a trey, Pella turned the ball over and Gholson dropped in to foul shots to knot it at 81-81 with 51.7 seconds left.

Pella worked time off the clock before taking a timeout with 16.9 seconds on the clock. VanderLeest was left alone in the corner for what would prove to be the winning shot.

“We didn’t play defense to our standard tonight. We gave up 85 points. We don’t do that,” Liley said. “It’s something we will work on.”

Newton came back from a 22-12 first-quarter deficit. The Cardinals trailed 28-17 when senior Trey Vanderlaan hit a 3-pointer to trigger a 16-2 run for Newton to gain a 32-30 lead with 3:49 left in the second quarter. Newton led 43-37 at halftime.

Pella scored the first six points of the third quarter to tie the game at 43-all. It was back-and-forth the rest of the way. It was tied 56-56 going into the fourth quarter. The teams traded leads late until VanWyk forged a 71-71 tie on a bucket with 47 seconds left in regulation.

Sturtz led Newton with 31 points followed by Gholson with 25 points. Gholson was recognized before the game as only the third NHS player to reach the 1,000-point career plateau. He is at 1,028 points and is second on the career scoring list. Tyler Wood holds the NHS record of 1,076 points.

Maher finished with 14 points and five assists. Vanderlaan had seven rebounds while senior Josh Ventling dished out four assists and had six rebounds.

VanWyk paced Pella with 33 points. Donovan Holterhaus added 17 points and VanderLeest had 14 points.

Newton (6-2, 3-2) plays a non-conference game at Knoxville Saturday.

4A No. 1 Pella girls 70, Newton girls 35

Senior Courtney Jacobsen connected from outside the 3-point arc with 58 seconds left in the first quarter for Newton High’s first basket of the game. The Cardinals were still in the game Friday against Class 4A top-ranked Pella.

The Cardinals trailed the Lady Dutch 8-4 at the end of the first quarter. They kept battling through the second stanza to face a 10-point halftime deficit.

“It was that third quarter when the game got completely away from us,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said after the Cardinals lost 70-35 to the visiting Lady Dutch in Little Hawkeye Conference play. “We competed, but our shots didn’t fall like they did Tuesday.”

Pella used a 13-0 run to stretch its 29-19 halftime margin as the third quarter began. The Lady Dutch outscored the Cardinals 18-3 in to pots a 47-22 lead heading into the fourth period.

“It was another opportunity to play one of the best teams to become better ourselves,” Sharp said. “We tried to go with a slower-paced offense in the second half to stay in the game. We didn’t execute it as well as we needed to and our level at the defensive end suffered.”

Sharp said it was nice to get Jacobsen going early in the game. Jacobsen hit three 3-pointers on her way to 12 points. Senior Ryanne Rausch had 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Newton had 24 turnovers. Pella held a 37-30 edge in rebounding.

Kiara Bradley tossed in 25 points and Emily Holterhaus added 17 points.

Pella won the junior varsity game, 36-24. Anna Coyle scored seven points for Newton while Emily Valtman had six and Abbie Barr had five points.

Newton (3-6, 1-4) plays at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in non-conference action at Knoxville.

PCM girls 51, North Polk 31

MONROE — The Mustang girls broke open a close game with a 19-6 second quarter and never looked back in claiming sole possession of second place in the Heart of Iowa Conference standings.

PCM improved to 8-2 overall and 7-1 in the HOIC despite only leading 8-4 after one quarter.

Senior Kayla Jennings and freshman Regan Freland each scored 13 points. Jennings tallied four rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Freland finished with three steals.

Senior Katie Vande Wall scored six of her nine points in the first quarter to give the Mustangs an early lead, and she also finished with six rebounds and three steals. Senior Lexi Timmins totaled six points and seven rebounds.

North Polk (7-4 overall, 5-2 in the HOIC) closed within 8-5 with a free throw early in the second quarter, but PCM used an 11-3 run to pull away. Freland scored seven of her 13 points in the frame. Jennings scored the final five points of the period to give PCM a 27-10 lead at halftime.

The Mustangs scored the first seven points of the third to go up 34-10. Back-to-back buckets by Jennings made it 40-14 and the Comets never got closer than 17 the rest of the way.

PCM won the game despite making only 16-of-28 from the free-throw line. North Polk hit 5-of-19 from the line.

PCM boys 58, North Polk 35

MONROE — Eleven Mustangs scored at least one point, and a fast start propelled PCM to a HOIC win over North Polk on Friday. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Mustangs, who are now 5-3 overall and 5-2 in the HOIC.

Junior Jackson Thomas, who came into the game averaging nearly 18 points per game, was held to just one field goal and two points, but others stepped up.

Senior Mark Bruxvoort scored nine of his game-high 14 points in the first quarter as the Mustangs led 17-8 after eight minutes of play.

Junior Elijah Sperfslage added 13 points in the win, while sophomore Andrew Van Ryswyk tallied nine points and 10 rebounds. Bruxvoort pulled down nine rebounds and delivered three assists.

PCM held North Polk (2-8, 1-5) to four points in the second quarter and led 29-12 at halftime. Sophomore Reed Worth hit both of his 3-pointers in the period to energize the Mustangs.

Sperfslage scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half to lead PCM.

Both teams hit five 3-pointers in the game. PCM made nine more 2-pointers and five more free throws in the game.

Colfax-Mingo boys 46, Sigourney 22

COLFAX — Jarod Nichols recorded his fourth straight double-double and set a new school record with 23 rebounds Friday as the Tigerhawks won their fourth straight game during a South Iowa Cedar League home contest.

Nichols finished with 17 points and 23 rebounds in the win. During Colfax-Mingo's current four-game win streak, Nichols has tallied 95 points and 73 rebounds. The Tigerhawks are now 6-4 overall and 6-3 in the SICL.

Colfax-Mingo led 13-0 after one quarter and went into the locker room up 22-10 at halftime. The Tigerahawks held Sigourney (4-6, 4-4) to 12 points in the second half.

Junior Reegan Van Dyke tallied eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds, junior Jonathan Jacobs had six points and five assists and eight Tigerhawks scored in all.

Colfax-Mingo made 7-of-16 from the free-throw line.

Sigourney girls 50, Colfax-Mingo 31

COLFAX — Dakota Hostetter scored four points, grabbed six rebounds, blocked three shots and collected three steals, but points were hard to come by for the Tigerhawks during a loss in South Iowa Cedar League play.

The Tigerhawks trailed 22-13 against undefeated Sigourney at halftime and couldn't recover.

Colfax-Mingo made nine baskets, buried four 3-pointers and nailed 9-of-11 from the free throw line.

Sophomore Payton Rhone drained a pair of treys and finished with a team-high six points. Sophomore Delaney Underwood made 5-of-6 from the foul line to score five points, while junior McKeely Tjaden also put in five points.

Junior Ries Wilson scored four points and grabbed six rebounds.

The Tigerhawks dropped to 2-9 overall and 2-7 in the SICL. Sigourney improved to 10-0 overall and 8-0 in conference play.