March 19, 2024

Newton girls come up short against Grand View Christian

Thunder hit game-winning bucket with 1 second to play

It’s been a tough year on and off the court for Newton’s girls’ basketball team.

The Cardinals have dealt with plenty of adversity through injuries and sickness off the floor and playing in a tough Little Hawkeye Conference hasn’t helped them on the court.

On Tuesday, Newton stepped outside the conference to host Grand View Christian and could not hold an eight-point first-half lead during a 50-48 loss to the Thunder.

The visitors scored the winning bucket with 1 second on the clock to extend the Cardinals’ losing skid to three games.

“They ran a great out of bounds play to win it,” Newton head girls’ coach Eric Vander Velden said. “We were playing man-to-man so you still have to guard someone on that play. We just didn’t identify the player throwing the ball inbounds.”

Haley Lane was the Thunder player who made the inbounds pass with 4.7 seconds on the clock.

Newton forced a timeout on GVC’s first attempt to throw the ball in play, but Lane got it to a teammate on her second opportunity and then sprinted to the bucket and made an uncontested layup to put her team in front.

The Thunder’s previous bucket came off an offensive rebound where the player also was unguarded under the hoop.

“They went four minutes without scoring in the fourth and that helped us rally,” Vander Velden said. “But then they scored six points in the final two minutes. Not boxing out didn’t help.”

The Cardinals’ bad luck continued on Monday when Audrey Rausch was injured in the final 4 minutes of the game against Dallas Center-Grimes. She is expected to miss several games with a broken collarbone.

Jerrica McGuire also is not 100 percent healthy and Aurora Nehring just recently returned from an illness. The Cardinals just haven’t had much fortune go their way.

“That’s just part of basketball. I’m not frustrated. We have to work through some adversity,” Vander Velden said. “No one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to be ready to play every night. We just need others to step up and some players have to play 30-32 minutes.”

It was 7-2 early as Meg Callaghan scored inside, Nehring buried a 3-pointer and Chassidy Henwood converted a layup. Henwood’s putback late in the first quarter put the Cardinals’ up 12-7 after eight minutes.

The lead grew to 18-10 after back-to-back buckets inside by Kealey Manning. And then a triple by Brooklyn Cupples put Newton in front 21-13.

Grand View Christian finished the period on a 9-3 run though and a 3-pointer at the buzzer trimmed the margin to 24-22 at halftime.

The Thunder shifted momentum in the third quarter with a 13-0 run. GVC’s best player — Sydney Lane — started the run with a 3-pointer and then added a layup off her own steal and scored again to make it 31-24. The advantage eventually grew to 35-24.

Grand View Christian’s 6-foot-1 sophomore Kylie Hoben created problems for the Cardinals inside.

“We didn’t take any pride defensively and weren’t running an offense,” Vander Velden said. “With (Hoben) in there, we can’t just try to shoot over her every time. We needed to kick the ball back out and reset the offense. We made her look like an all-stater tonight.”

Newton (2-10) did make a run to get back in it. Henwood scored back-to-back layups, Victoria Reynolds buried a jumper and Henwood scored another layup off her own steal.

Sydney Lane and Nehring traded 3-pointers to end the period with GVC in front 40-35.

The Thunder (6-8) scored first in the fourth quarter, but Newton used a 9-0 run to move back in front.

The spurt included a bucket inside from Manning, another 3-pointer from Nehring, two free throws from Callaghan and points off a turnover from Henwood, who finished with six steals in the loss.

“We starting playing better pressure defense and Chassidy got some steals and easy layups to help us get back in it,” Vander Velden said.

With the game tied, GVC missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 2:39 to play.

Henwood made the Thunder pay at the other end as she scored on a nifty cut to the hoop off a pass from Callaghan.

Sydney Lane tied it with a pair of free throws with 1:23 left and the Thunder scored again on the offensive rebound and putback.

Henwood’s final bucket of the game came on a putback with 17.3 seconds to go. Henwood finished with 17 points and added seven rebounds and five assists.

Grand View Christian brought the ball to its end of the floor and called timeout with 4.7 seconds on the clock. That set up the game-winning inbounds play that gave Haley Lane an open layup.

Newton struggled in the first half against the Thunder’s full-court press. The Cardinals turned it over 17 times in the game and shot just 31 percent from the field.

Not having Rausch on the floor as a capable ball handler did not help Newton’s effort in breaking the press.

“Audrey not being around didn’t help with the press. Aurora is still getting back from being sick. Jerrica is not 100 percent,” Vander Velden said. “It is what it is. We can only work with what we have.”

Callaghan finished with nine points and nine rebounds despite battling foul trouble. Nehring added nine points, five rebounds and two blocks and Manning scored eight points.

Sydney Lane led the Thunder with a game-high 19 points. Haley Lane scored 16 points. No other GVC player scored more than five.

Notes: Cupples chipped in three points and three steals and Reynolds added five rebounds and four assists for Newton. … The Thunder made six 3-pointers. Newton made 5-of-19 from 3-point range and was 5-of-6 from the foul line. … The Cardinals return to their home floor on Friday as Newton hosts LHC rival Grinnell in a girl-boy varsity doubleheader starting at 6:15 p.m.