Shots don’t fall for Cardinal girls in loss to Cubs

With a steal for a layup as time expired in the first quarter, Newton High junior guard Chassidy Henwood had her team leading 10-7 on Monday.

The Nevada Cub girls were visiting for a non-conference game. While Newton’s offense went dormant for the first 4 minutes, 30 seconds of the second period, the Cubs took the lead.

They never relinquished it. Nevada (9-12) claimed a 57-38 win over Newton.

“I told the girls we just flush this one from our memory and turn our focus to Pella Christian on Tuesday,” Newton head coach Eric Vander Velden said.

Newton (6-13) finishes out the regular season with two more games — both Little Hawkeye Conference affairs — this week. The Cardinals are 3-9 in LHC play.

The Cardinals play at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday at Pella Christian. They host Indianola at 6:45 p.m. on Friday for Senior Night.

A couple of bright spots in the game for Newton were the play of junior Jerrica McGuire off the bench and the fact that Henwood dished out four assists.

Those four assists helped Henwood establish a new Newton girls’ single-season assist mark. She has 103.

Vander Velden said he was pleased with McGuire’s game. She had nine rebounds, three steals and two points.

“We missed too many shots in the paint. We were 5-of-35 shooting in the first half,” he said.

Nevada dictated the game tempo from the beginning. Also every bounce went the Cubs’ way as shots bounced in just as often for them as the Cardinals’ shots bounced off the rim.

Newton had 21 turnovers in the game. It also had 20 steals.

“We knew they use the 1-3-1 zone and we implemented an offense in shoot-around today,” Vander Velden said. “But we went away from it for some reason.”

Despite a long scoring dry spell, the Cardinals only trailed 16-10. Henwood, who had 10 points in the game, scored a bucket with 3:31 left in the second period.

Nevada’s Elie Tuhn netted two of her five 3-pointers in a 9-1 run to finish out the half. The second was at the buzzer for a 25-13 lead.

The Cardinals were down 28-13 with 6:49 left in the third quarter. They began clawing back into the game.

Henwood and Meg Callaghan had baskets then Tuhn had a 3-pointer for the Cubs. The next seven points were scored by Newton.

The Cardinals pulled to within seven points, 31-24, by the 2:43 mark. The Cubs had back-to-back three-point plays on a 10-0 run to lead 41-24.

Nevada extended its lead to 45-24 in the first minute of the fourth.

Newton’s final points came with 20 seconds left. Sophomore Emma Rogers had a three-point play when her looping shot fell and she was fouled.

“I told our players they have to finish around the basket,” Vander Velden said. “We got outscored 18-3 in the second quarter and that was the game.”

Callaghan, another junior, led Newton with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Henwood had five rebounds and nine steals, which is third best in school history.

Sophomore Aurora Nehring added seven points and had three steals. Junior Victoria Reynolds made four steals.

Senior Mackenzie Baker had two points and sophomore Brooklyn Cupples had one point. Newton was 8-of-12 at the free-throw line.

Tuhn led the Cubs with 20 points. Kacie Rewerts scored 15 and Sydney Mosinski had 13 points.

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