March 28, 2024

NHS girls’ trio earns LHC basketball honors

Quickness and tenacity drives Chassidy Henwood and the 5-foot-4 inch junior guard was the force behind Newton High’s Cardinal girls on the basketball court in 2019-20.

Henwood set new Newton girls’ standards in steals and assists and tied single-game Cardinal records in rebounds and assists. Henwood played in all 22 games this season and led the Little Hawkeye Conference in steals (56) and assists (85) and was second in rebounding with 106.

Henwood earned second-team all-LHC honors. She was one of three Newton High girls’ receiving conference honors announced by the LHC coaches.

Senior Mackenzie Baker and junior Meg Callaghan garnered LHC honorable mention honors. Callaghan, who was sidelined with an injury, played in the final 12 games of the season which included nine conference contests. Baker missed one non-conference game in the season.

Newton went 4-10 in LHC play to finish sixth.

Indianola was the 2019-20 conference champion at 12-2 with Dallas Center-Grimes and Grinnell tying for second at 11-3.

Norwalk and Pella each had an 8-6 conference record. Pella Christina was seventh at 2-13 and Oskaloosa went 0-14 for eighth.

Henwood was Newton’s leader in scoring, rebounding, in assists and in steals. She finished 14th in scoring in the conference with 146 points. She shot 41.8 percent, 61-of-146, from the field and was 23-of-38 at the free-throw line for 60.5 percent.

For the season, Henwood scored 234 points, shot 43 percent, 98-of-229, from the field and was 35-of-61 from the line for 57 percent. She claimed 170 rebounds. She had a career-high of 23 points against Perry this season.

Henwood’s 123 assists established a new school record for a single season, replacing Casey McDermott (99) at the top of that list. She has 139 assists for her career, putting her fourth in NHS history. She tied the single-game assist mark of nine three times this season and had five games with eight assists.

Henwood’s 103 steals in a season is a new NHS record, as she moved pass Amy Vos (72). Henwood passed Vos (10) also in single-game steals with 11 and is third with a nine-steal game. She had four games this season with seven steals apiece. She is seventh in career steals with 121.

Henwood led the state in 4A with her 103 steals. She finished third in 4A with 123 assists.

Henwood and Callaghan tied the single-game mark of 19 rebounds each. Henwood’s came against Perry, a non-conference game, and Callaghan had 19 against Indianola. Callaghan grabbed 16 against Washington in a postseason game to tie for fifth on the single-game list.

Callaghan is a 5-foot-10 inch forward who was 18th in scoring among LHC players as she poured in 111 points in nine games. She was seventh in rebounds with 84. Callaghan had a career-high 23 points and 19 rebounds against Indianola.

Callaghan shot 46 percent, 48-of-105, from the field in LHC play. She hit 15-of-32 free-throw attempts for 47 percent.

Overall, Callaghan was fourth in scoring for the Cardinals with 144 points and second in rebounds with 121. She had 15 steals and eight assists. She shot 43 percent, 63-of-146, from the field and was 18-of-44 for 41 percent from the line.

Baker, a 6-foot post player, had her career-high of 16 points and 11 rebounds against Indianola on Senior Night.

Baker, who has signed to play basketball at Clarke University in Dubuque, finished 22nd in scoring in the 14 LHC games.

Baker scored 104 points in conference contests and tied for 16th in rebounds with 61. She shot 44 percent, 44-of-100, from the field and went 16-of-28 at the line for 57 percent.

Baker was Newton’s third leading scorer with 162 points in 21 games. She shot 41 percent, 67-of-164, from the field and was a 62-percent free-throw shooter going 28-of-45. Baker had 100 rebounds, 16 assists and seven steals.

Newton led the LHC in total rebounds with 839 and in block shots with 49 but also led the conference in turnovers with 357. The Cardinals were second in shooting percentage from the field at 40.7, 276-of-678, second in assists with 192 and fourth in steals with 151.

Newton finished at 7-15 under first-year head coach Eric Vander Velden. That doubled (3) the overall wins and the LHC victories (2) of a year ago. It tied the third best finish by a Cardinal girls’ basketball team in 11 years.

Little Hawkeye Conference

Girls Basketball 2019-2020

Final Standings

Team Conference Overall

Indianola 12-2 17-7

Grinnell 11-3 16-7

Dallas Center-Grimes 11-3 16-7

Pella 8-6 12-11

Norwalk 8-6 10-12

Newton 4-10 7-15

Pella Christian 2-12 5-19

Oskaloosa 0-14 1-20

2020 Little Hawkeye Conference

Girls Basketball All-Conference

First Team

*Sarah Gosselink, Sr., Grinnell

*Meredith McKnight, So., Grinnell

*Jordan Cunningham, Sr., Dallas Center-Grimes

*Lauren Blake, So., Indianola

*Kendall Clatt, Jr., Indianola

*Bren Moritz, Jr., Norwalk

Allison Van Gorp, Jr., Pella Christian

Elizabeth Elfvin, Sr., Dallas Center-Grimes

* Unanimous

Second Team

Chassidy Henwood, Jr., Newton

Ivey Schmidt, So., Grinnell

Mara Bishop, So., Indianola

Julia Reis, Jr., DCG

JoJo Bice, So., Norwalk

Olivia Johnson, So., Norwalk

Madison Naig, Jr., Pella

Faith Diers, Jr., Pella

Amanda Fay, Jr., Oskaloosa

Honorable Mention: Newton-Meg Callaghan, Jr., Mackenzie Baker, Sr.; Dallas Center-Grimes-Ella Lampe, So., Lexi Protzman, Jr.; Norwalk-Ellie Wermerskirchen, Sr., Jayden Lammers, Jr.; Indianola-Bailey Blake, Sr., Emma Kluver, So,; Grinnell-McKenna McKnight, Sr., Haidyn Hull, Fr.; Pella-Anna Vander Waal, So., Jasmine Namminga, Fr.; Pella Christian-Chloe Morgan, Sr.; Oskaloosa-Presley Blommers, Fr., Mary Nelson, Sr.

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