No. 13 Hawks use press to turn back Tigerhawks

SULLY — With his team leading by 19 points, Lynnville-Sully girls’ basketball coach Jerry Hulsing was still emphasizing the standards of a program that has been one of the best in Class 1A for the past 20 years.

The Hawks gave up a near coast-to-coast layup to Colfax-Mingo junior Mac Brown, and he shouted the trademark phrase to his team — “No layups.”

“That’s the standard to of our program,” Hulsing said. “That’s what we are built on. That’s what we do. I don’t care if its my best player or my worst player, and I don’t care what the score is. We don’t give up layups. Down the road when a game is tight, it will matter.”

Tuesday night against Colfax-Mingo, the layup didn’t factor into the final score as the Class 1A No. 13 Hawks forced 34 turnovers and defeated the Tigerhawks 55-27 during South Iowa Cedar League action.

Junior Carson Fisk recorded her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds.

It was a tough night for both teams on the offensive end of the floor though. Lynnville-Sully won the game despite making only 24 of its 63 shot attempts from the floor. Colfax-Mingo hit on only 11-of-29.

“We had open looks on the outside that we didn’t knock down,” Hulsing said. “We also had some closer to the basket that we didn’t get to go. We need to get those to fall. We are better shooting team than we showed tonight.”

The Tigerhawks got eight points and three rebounds from Brown, but the turnovers were too much to overcome. The 34 miscues led to 26 points for the home team.

“The did to us exactly what they wanted to. They sped us up and we couldn’t handle it,” Colfax-Mingo coach Larry Roberts said. “We need to throw the ball up the floor. We ran into trouble when we threw it backwards or sideways. They are well coached. They know what they are doing.”

The Hawks led 16-7 after one quarter. Fisk scored six points inside the lane in the period, and sophomore Mallory Loftus came off the bench to put in four points.

By halftime, Fisk had 11 points in the books. The Tigerhawks got within nine on a jumper by junior Delaney Underwood, but the Hawks closed out the half with layups by junior Shiloh Cunningham and Fisk. Cunningham finished with eight points and four rebounds in the win.

“We got the turnovers, but we didn’t always convert those mistakes to points though,” Hulsing said. “And that’s something we’ll continue to work on.”

Lynnville-Sully (4-2 overall, 2-2 in the SICL) led by as many as 28 in the third quarter, and then senior Camryn Russell buried a 3-pointer in the fourth that put the Hawks up 29.

The good news for the Tigerhawks is that they avoided the 35-point continuous clock, something they’ve had trouble with in the past when facing the league’s top-tier teams.

“I think we are getting better, but our execution is still poor,” Roberts said. “We have a good attitude. They are working hard. They see that they are making improvements. The problem is the teams at the top are still really good.”

Colfax-Mingo has already faced two of the top three teams in the SICL and will meet the third one at home on Tuesday. There will be a chance to get some momentum after that tough stretch.

As for Lynnville-Sully, Hulsing still has a list of things his squad needs to do better that have shown up in the team’s two losses.

“We need to be more physical. And our free-throw shooting needs to get better,” Hulsing said. “The defense will be there. We need to put the ball in the hole more consistently.”

Fisk was one of two Hawks in double-figures. Loftus put in 13 points and grabbed four boards and Russell added three points, four assists and three steals.

Senior Mariah Vos scores six points, grabbed four rebounds and swiped six steals.

Colfax-Mingo got four points, six rebounds and three steals from senior McKeely Tjaden and senior Ries Wilson collected two points, three steals and a team-high nine rebounds.

Colfax-Mingo 7-5-8-7 — 27

Lynnville-Sully 16-9-21-9 — 55

Colfax-Mingo (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Mac Brown 3-2-2-8, McKeely Tjaden 1-2-1-4, Camilla Schlosser 2-0-3-4, Colbee Cunningham 1-1-0-3, Ries Wilson 1-0-2-2, Abbey McConeghey 1-0-1-2, Delaney Underwood 1-0-0-2. Totals 11-5-10-27

Lynnville-Sully (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Carson Fisk 8-3-0-19, Mallory Loftus 5-3-3-13, Shiloh Cunningham 4-0-3-8, Mariah Vos 3-0-1-6, Krystal Van Dyke 2-0-2-4, Camryn Russell 1/1-0-2-3, Janelle Rozendaal 1-0-0-2, Christine Nikkel 0-0-1-0, Jataya Meyer 0-0-3-0, Kaylee Maasdam 0-0-2-0. Totals 24/1-6-17-55