April 26, 2024

Miscues hamper Newton girls in loss against Grinnell

By Jocelyn Sheets

Getting after it and going after the ball on the floor is Newton High's Chassidy Henwood during the Cardinals' season-opener at home. The Cardinals continue to play hard and lost on the road Friday at Grinnell in Little Hawkeye Conference play. Also on the floor in the scramble are Newton's Aurora Nehring (5) and Victoria Reynolds (4) with Jerrica McGuire (23)looking for a pass from Henwood. (Jocelyn Sheets)

GRINNELL — Besieged by turnovers, Newton High’s Cardinals girls found themselves down by 20 points at the end of the first quarter. The Cardinals got better offensively but could never dig out of the deep hole against host Grinnell in Friday’s Little Hawkeye Conference game, losing 71-36.

Grinnell’s Tigers, who had launched 191 3-point field goal attempts in their first five games, fired in 11 3-pointers on Friday night. The Tigers also roll with a lot of defensive pressure on opponents.

Newton’s miscues turned into scoring opportunities for Grinnell. The Cardinals had 33 turnovers in the game.

Newton fell to 0-2 in LHC play while Grinnell improved to 2-0. Both teams came into Friday’s game at 3-2 overall. The Cardinals are 3-3.

The Cardinals were held to one point until the final shot of the first quarter when senior Priscila Amador hit a basket to beat the buzzer. It was 23-3.

“We got rattled at the start with the pressure. That’s what they want to do,” Newton head coach Eric Vander Velden said. “They hit 3s in the first four minutes and we couldn’t overcome that big deficit.”

Vander Velden said they stressed to the Cardinal players to relax and be patient. He said the Cardinals played within themselves after the first quarter.

Newton got the offense working in the second quarter and went point-for-point with Grinnell. Each team tallied 13 points in the period with the Tigers leading 36-16 at halftime. Grinnell outscored Newton 19-10 in the third quarter for a 55-26 lead.

Chassidy Henwood finished with eight points for Newton. Mackenzie Baker and Kealey Manning each added six points. Jerrica McGuire had five points and seven rebounds. Audrey Rausch tossed in five points.

Amador had two points and two steals. Brooklyn Cupples had two assists and one point.

Henwood, Newton’s leading scorer, was held scoreless in the first half. She did have seven rebounds. Aurora Nehring grabbed six rebounds, had three assists and three points.

Henwood was coming off a school-record game of 11 steals in Thursday’s 44-32 win over Marshalltown. The previous school mark for a single game was set by Amy Vos against South Tama on Nov. 22, 2008.

The Cardinals were 3-of-13 from the free-throw line. The Tigers sank 10-of-14 free throw attempts. Newton shot 43 percent, 16-of-37, from the field.

Grinnell was led by Haidyn Hull with 16 points. McKenna McKnight had 13 and Ivey Schmidt had 12 points.

“We played hard and I give credit to the girls, “ Vander Velden said. “We have an opportunity to be 4-3 after next Friday’s game against Oskaloosa before winter break.”

Grinnell also won the junior varsity game 67-42. Manning poured in 16 points for Newton.

Newton is back in action at home at 6:15 p.m. Friday at home in Little Hawkeye Conference play against Oskaloosa.

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