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It was not a victorious night in front of the home crowd for Newton High’s girls, but they never gave up in the 61-34 loss to visiting Pella. The Cardinals competed to the end on a night Newton High honored those affected by cancer.
On the NHS annual Conquering Cancer on the Court Night, the Newton girls battled back from a 15-4 first-quarter deficit to make a game of it in the second quarter on Friday. Three 3-pointers — two by senior Marcelina Marvelli and one by senior Taylor Ryan — helped the Cardinals stay within striking distance.
Pella’s Lady Dutch had 27-18 lead at halftime then went on a 13-2 run to open the third period. Newton wasn’t able to dig out of the 20-point hole in the second half.
“That opening four-minute stretch was the separator. We talked about it at halftime that our focus, our energy and our execution had to be high in those four minutes, and it wasn’t,” Newton head coach Brandon Sharp said.
“They competed hard the whole game. That will not be in question for this group the rest of the season.”
Newton struggled against Pella’s full-court and half-court pressure. The Cardinals turned the ball over 26 times in the game.
The Cardinals shot 34 percent, 12-of-35, from the field. They converted 5-of-11 free throw attempts.
Down 44-20, Ryan hit another 3-pointer for Newton at the 1:23 mark of the third quarter. Freshman Meg Callaghan converted a three-point play and Ryan scored the final basket of the period. It was 48-28. Pella finished the game on a 13-6 scoring edge.
Ryan led the Cardinals with 11 points, two assists and two steals. Marvelli had six points and four assists. Junior Rachel Rhoads made two steals and senior Anna Forsyth had two steals and blocked two shots.
Junior Peyton Maher pulled down seven rebounds for Newton. Seniors Addy Blom and Ali Bestell collected five and four rebounds, respectively. Newton had 32 rebounds in the game.
Pella got 17 points from Emily Holterhaus. Chloe Van Vliet added 15 points and Kara Wichhart had 10 points.
“Our players are trying to execute to the best of their abilities right now,” Sharp said. “We just have to keep growing as a team.”
Newton dropped to 2-10 in Little Hawkeye Conference play. The Cardinals (4-16) host Norwalk in LHC action for a 6:15 p.m. game on Tuesday.
Pella 15-12-21-13—61
Newton 4-14-10-6—34
Newton (FG/3-pt): Barr 1-0-0-2, Forsyth 0-1-3-1, Marvelli 0/2-0-2-6, Rhoads 1-0-2-2, Ryan 1/3-0-1-11, Henwood 1-0-0-2. Callaghan 2-1-0-5, Maher 1-0-4-2, Bestell 1-0-0-2, Bloom 0-1-0-1. TOTALS: 7/5-5-12-34.
Pella (FG/3-pt): Parks 1-1-2-3, Cairney 1/1-0-2-5, Bradley 1-0-0-2, Wichhart 5-0-1-10, Bossard 0-0-2-0, Van Vliet 3/3-0-2-15, Holterhaus 6-5-0-17, VanVark 1/1-0-0-5, Naig 1-0-2-2. TOTALS: 20/5-6-13-61.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com