March 19, 2024

Comets fire past Cardinals

Valuing the basketball is a focus for Newton High’s girls. Early in Saturday’s game against North Polk’s Comets, the Cardinals didn’t value possession of the ball and found themselves down by 18 points after one quarter.

The Cardinals never recovered, losing 53-37 to North Polk. Newton went 0-2 in its 2017 NHS Girls Varsity Basketball Holiday Tournament.

“The separator was the first 12 minutes of the game,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said. “I’m happy how we competed the final 20 minutes of the game. We valued the ball a little more in the second half.”

Sharp said he hoped he sent a message to all his players when he cleared the bench in the second quarter and sitting his starters. He said the players off the bench did a phenomenal job to finish the first half.

“That was competing. We rewarded them by giving them the opportunity to start the second half,” Sharp said. “Hopefully it sent a message to us that we need to show up every single time. We’re not good enough to take plays off, to take possessions off.”

The Comets drained five of their eight 3-pointers in the first quarter to gain a 23-5 lead. By the four-minute mark of the second quarter, North Polk was up 32-7.

Newton senior Taylor Ryan sank two free throws with 1:43 left in the first half then hit a field goal to make it 35-11.

Newton ended the second quarter with a free throw by senior Ali Bestell and a basket by junior Rachel Rhoads, who was wearing a mask to protect a broken nose she suffered in Friday’s game against Prairie City-Monroe.

North Polk had a 37-14 halftime lead. Sharp said he was disappointed in how his team opened the game after a competitive loss against PCM on Friday in the tournament.

“We have a lot of things to learn from these two games,” senior Addy Blom said after Saturday’s contest. “We need to focus on loving each other a lot, learn from our mistakes and let things go to move forward.”

Senior Marcelina Marvelli drilled a 3-pointer and senior Randi Walters followed with a bucket to make it 39-19 at the 5:46 mark of the third quarter. Newton did outscore North Polk 9-8 in the third quarter but trailed 45-23.

The Cardinals opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back baskets in transition by Rhoads and Walters. Ryan’s 3-pointer with 4:45 left in the game closed the gap to 17 points, 47-30. The Comets answered with two threes to push their advantage to 53-30.

Ryan netted another 3-pointer and basket in the final two minutes to finish with a team-high 12 points. Sharp sent out several younger players on the court to finish the game for Newton.

“We were able to put those younger players out to get a few minutes of varsity experience,” Sharp said. “Players are finding their niche. They find if they do what they are asked to do, they are successful. It’s a growth mind-set for us right now.”

Newton shot 29 percent, 14-of-48, from the field and went 6-of-9 at the free-throw line. North Polk connected on 21-of-61 from the field for 34 percent, which included the Comets’ going 8-of-26 from 3-point range. North Polk sank 3-of-10 free throw attempts.

The Comets held a 38-34 rebounding edge over the Cardinals. Bestell controlled seven rebounds for Newton while Walters, Blom and junior Peyton Maher each and four rebounds.

Senior Anna Forsyth had three of the team’s eight steals. Walters and Rhoads each had two assists. Newton had 23 turnovers in the game.

“We will work on getting better. If the girls do their individual jobs, we can compete, if they choose not to, well, we’ll have a hard time,” Sharp said.

North Polk was led by Maggie Phipps with 16 points. Phipps, Katie Scott and Abi Zimmer each had two 3-pointers in the game. The Comets had 16 steals.

Also on Saturday in tournament play, Carlisle beat Chariton 62-53. Molly Hoekstra led Carlisle with 23 points followed by Meredith Hoffman with 16 and Madi Hoekstra with 10 points. Chariton’s Ivy Swarthout hit 5 3-pointers on her way to 20 points and Luci Swarthout added 14 points.

“We’ll turn around to get ready for Perry on Tuesday and grow as players,” Blom said.

Newton (0-2) hosts Perry in a non-conference game at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The junior varsity plays at 6 p.m.

North Polk 23-14-8-8—53

Newton 5-9-9-14—37

Newton (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Forsyth 0-0-2-0, Walters 4-0-3-8, Marvelli 0/1-0-2-3, Rhoads 2-0-1-4, Ryan 2/2-2-0-12, Nehring 1-0-02, Bestell 1-1-2-3, Blom 1-3-0-5, Baker 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 11/3-6-11-37.

North Polk (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Halterman 1-0-1-2, Ley 2-0-0-4, Scott 0/2-0-1-6, Zimmer 1/2-0-0-8, Bonewitz 1/1-0-1-5, Brown 1/1-0-2-5, Foster 0-2-1-2, Steffen 0-1-0-1, Phipps 5/2-0-2-16, Albaugh 0-0-1-0, Haupert 1-0-0-2, Bruggeman 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 13/4-3-9-53.

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