March 19, 2024

Mustangs rally late to beat Cardinals

Newton, PCM girls tip off in NHS tourney

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Finding their footing as teams, Newton High’s Cardinals and Prairie City-Monroe’s Mustangs staged a solid basketball game to open the 2017-18 basketball season on Friday night.

The two Jasper County basketball teams had questions to answer with essentially one returning starter apiece.

The Mustangs and Cardinals gave fans their money’s worth in their matchup in the 2017 NHS Girls Varsity Basketball Holiday Tournament. PCM pulled out a 55-48 win, outscoring Newton 9-1 in the final two minutes.

PCM head coach Jeff Lindsay said it was a good win for the Mustangs because of all the new players on the floor for them. He said a lot of the girls who played Friday night did not have much varsity playing time last year.

“I’ve just told our girls we have to be patient and find ourselves as a team out there,” Lindsay said. “The way our players handled themselves against a good team which is strong and plays defense hard is a positive step for us.”

PCM led most of the game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Newton gained the lead twice and both times it was junior Camryn Wignall who put the Mustangs back on top. The first time came in the second period after the Cardinals had an 8-0 run led by three baskets inside by senior Ali Bestell.

Newton took a 16-14 lead at the 5:12 mark. Wignall fired in a 3-pointer to give the Mustangs the lead again then sophomore Regan Freland drilled a trey to push the lead to 20-16 with 3:57 left in the second period.

The Cardinals didn’t back down with back-to-back baskets by junior Rachel Rhoads and senior Addy Blom. Freland and Newton junior Peyton Maher traded baskets. The Mustangs reaped four points off two Newton turnovers.

Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said early shot selection by the Cardinals was not very good. He said the Newton players communicated well defensively to get stops when the team was struggling offensively.

The Cardinals ended up shooting 34.5 percent, 19-of-55, from the field but they went 2-of-22 from 3-point range. They also struggled at the free-throw line, 8-of-20.

“We’re a roller coaster team. We have to find a way to not be that. It’s about finding consistency in everything we do,” Sharp said.

By halftime PCM was sitting on a 31-24 advantage. Freland powered the Mustang offense with 19 points in the first half, but didn’t score until there were 2.9-seconds remaining in the game for a game-hight 21 points.

“We addressed rebounding at halftime and continued to stress it in the second half. We gave up too many second and third shots to Newton,” Lindsay said.

The Mustangs had 38 rebounds with 29 coming off the defensive glass. The Cardinals collected 43 rebounds.

The Cardinals got two free throws from Blom to end the third quarter trailing 42-36. Newton erased the deficit on an 11-4 surge in the fourth quarter.

Bestell had four points in the run then seniors Marcelina Marvelli and Randi Walters had baskets for the Cardinals to make it 45-44 with 2:57 left to play. PCM junior Morgan Uhlenhopp went 1-of-4 at the free-throw line to make it a two-point Mustang lead.

Marvelli rang up a 3-pointer to give Newton a 47-46 lead. Just like in the second quarter, Newton had opportunities to extend its lead but misfired.

“Coach (Lindsay) just wanted us to get down there and play loose. I saw the opportunity to take the shot. It felt good. I just wanted my team to get the lead back,” Wignall said of her jump shot at the 1:41 mark to give the lead to PCM for good.

The Cardinals missed a shot on its next possession, blocked a PCM shot then turned it over. Newton had 20 turnovers in the game.

PCM was up 50-47 when Newton came away from four attempts at the free-throw line with just one point. Uhlenhopp sealed the Mustang win with a 3-point play with 24 seconds left.

“We competed for 32 minutes tonight. I’m proud of how the girls responded. We saw the first-game jitters early in the game,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said. “We had opportunities against a good athletic team. We’ll get better from this one.”

Along with Freland’s 21 points, PCM got seven points each from Wignall and Lilli Baird. The Mustangs went 19-of-53 from the field for 36 percent. They were 7-of-21 from 3-point range and went 10-of-17 at the free-throw line.

“We moved the ball really well,” Wignall said. “We took good shots and played pretty well for the first game. Our defense was OK.”

Freland, who had three 3-pointers, also dished six assists. Uhlenhopp grabbed five rebounds and Wagnall had four rebounds. Junior Avery Stock made two steals.

Bestell finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for Newton. Blom added 10 points and grabbed five rebounds.

“Ali and Addy carried us in the first half. That was the best play as a whole post unit for us since I’ve been here,” Sharp said. “We’ve not been known for posts, and have always been guard heavy. I’m proud of those two. Coach (Eric) VanderVelden has worked with them, and I’m excited where theywto are at with their progress.”

Sharp said PCM did a good job of taking away the inside game in the second half. He said the Cardinal guards had to create more.

Walters had nine points and six rebounds. She also had three steals. Marvelli made six steals and dished out eight assists. Maher had seven rebounds.

North Polk defeated Carlisle 53-46 on Friday night. Katie Brown led North Polk with 21 points followed by Jaedon Murphy with 15 and Maggie Phipps with 13. Carlisle got 17 points from Meredith Hoffman and 13 points from Molly Hoekstra.

The Mustangs (1-0) travel to Knoxville on Tuesday.

“Knoxville is going to be a tough challenge for us on the road. They have a good guard who shoots well,” Lindsay said. “We will try to improve our defense, which is a staple of our teams. It’s about effort. If you put effort in on the defensive end, good things will happen.”

PCM 14-17-11-13—55

Newton 8-16-12-12—48

PCM (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Wignall 2/1-0-1-7, Cowman 1-0-3-2, Stock 1/1-0-1-5, Baird 0/2-1-3-7, Hjortshoj 2-0-5-4, Foster 2-0-1-4, Freland 3/3-6-4-21, Uhlenhopp 1-3-2-5, Bussan 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 12/7-10-21-55.

Newton (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Forsyth 1-0-1-4, Walters 2/1-2-5, Marvelli 1/1-0-4, Rhoads 2-1-1-5, Maher 1-0-3-2, Bestell 6-2-5-14, Blom 4-2-1-10. TOTALS: 17/2-8-22-48.

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