March 19, 2024

Cardinals wrap up season in 4A regional semifinal

GRIMES — With four minutes remaining in the game Saturday, Newton High’s Cardinals were in a nine-point game with Class 4A ninth-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes. The Cardinal girls were battling for a semifinal win in Class 4A Region 3 action against the host Fillies.

The Fillies had the lead, which is dangerous to opponents.

“They do what they do very well. We’re not an overly athletic group that can get out an pressure people. When we’re forced to against a team with decent ball-handlers, who are disciplined enough to not buy into attacking the basket, it is hard to come back against a team like this,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said after the Cardinals lost 50-37.

“Dallas Center-Grimes is a very disciplined team in that regards. We had to chase them to foul them in an effort to get them into the one-and-one and extend the game.”

The first trip to the free-throw line for a bonus situation came at the 2:56 mark. Hannah Wuebker hit the front end then Newton cleared a rebound. Unfortunately, Newton wasn’t able to score then or on two other trips following missed free throws by the Fillies.

Wuebker was back at the line in a double-bonus downing both free throws with 1:30 left to make it 45-33. The Fillies would hit five more foul shots as the Cardinals’ offensive woes continued down the stretch.

Newton finished the season at 7-15 overall. Dallas Center-Grimes, a fellow Little Hawkeye Conference team, improved to 13-9, advancing to the Region 3 title game against 14th-ranked Boone on Tuesday. Boone rolled over another LHC team, Norwalk, 53-17 on Saturday.

“I’m really proud of this group from the start to the finish. The transformation of this group has been pretty remarkable to me,” Sharp said. “We came here in December and got beat by 32 points. We’ve played them two more games to within 12 points, essentially.”

The Fillies beat Newton, 56-24, on Dec. 9 then pulled out a 58-46 win at Newton. The two LHC teams played a tight game until the final four minutes on Saturday.

Newton grabbed a 6-4 led on back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Courtney Jacobsen and junior Randi Walters with 3:36 left in the first quarter. The teams were tied three times in the first quarter the last was 10-10 on a basket by Newton junior Ali Bestell.

DCG’s Rachel Lowary hit a runner in the lane to put the Fillies up 12-10 with 20 seconds on the clock. Junior Marcelina Marvelli drained a trey to beat the buzzer and the Cardinals led 13-12 heading into the second period.

The Fillies pushed out to a 19-13 lead but Walters and Jacobsen connected again from long distance to tie the game with 4:12 left in the second quarter. A Walters’ baseline jumper and a basket by senior Ryanne Rausch had the Cardinals in front 23-20 at the 2:05 mark.

Tatum Jorgensen had consecutive baskets for the Fillies and Newton turned the ball over down one. A shot at the buzzer by Mallory Vroegh banked off the glass and into the net to lift the Fillies to a 27-23 halftime lead.

Newton wasn’t able to keep pace with the Fillies in the second half. DCG had an 11-6 scoring edge in the third quarter, but a basket with 28 seconds left in the third quarter by Bestell had Newton within reach, 38-29.

The Fillies scored four points to open the fourth quarter. Rausch answered with two baskets for Newton to make it 42-33 with 4:21 left. The Fillies pulled the ball out and the Cardinals gave chase, but couldn’t catch up.

Dallas Center-Grimes cashed in on 14-of-21 free throw attempts. Newton was 2-of-2 at the line.

“We knew we were going to have to shoot the ball well from the outside to keep pace with them in scoring. We did that in the first half, but the shots didn’t fall for us in the second half,” Sharp said. “We had trouble inside tonight with their more athletic defenders on our bigs.”

Senior Ellie Horn, who is 6-foot-2 inches, did not score in the game for Newton. She did have seven rebounds and blocked two shots. Rausch finished with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists.

“We cleaned up some things from the first half. They had 15 offensive rebounds in the first half. We didn’t allow that to happen in the second half,” Sharp said.

Newton had a 33-25 rebounding edge on DCG. The Cardinals turned the ball over 24 times as the Fillies’ pressure created problems at times.

Senior Taylor Shipley had six rebounds and three assists. Jacobsen finished with six points. Walters had five rebounds.

Jenna Borches had 13 points for the Fillies. Vroegh added 12.

“I’m so proud of how the kids responded together all season to the tough times. They love each other, which gets you through a great deal. We are going to miss our seniors, who were great leaders all season,” Sharp said.

Newton 13-10-6-8—37

DCG 12-15-11-12—50

Newton (FG/3-pt): Rausch 6-2-5-14, Walters 1/2-0-3-8, Marvelli 0/1-0-4-3, Shipley 0-0-4-0, Jacobsen 0/2-0-3-6, Bestell 2-0-2-4, Blom 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 10/5-2-21-37.

Dallas Center-Grimes (FG/3-pt): Kramer 1-1-0-3, Jorgensen 3-0-4-6, Borchers 4-5-2-13, Vroegh 2/2-2-1-12, Wuebker 1-3-0-5, Lowary 3-3-0-9, Cunningham 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 15/2-14-8-50.

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