Reynolds’ career night leads Cardinal girls past rival Eagles

Without her top running mate, Sophia Reynolds had to step up her game against Pella Christian on Tuesday night.

But several other Cardinals also picked up their play during a 44-41 home win over the Eagles during Little Hawkeye Conference action.

Reynolds put in a career-best 23 points and Newton held off a late charge by Pella Christian to claim its first conference victory of the season.

“We had to gut it out, and it was a good team effort,” Newton head girls basketball coach Eric Vander Velden said. “We will take the win, and I’m glad we got to do it at home.”

The Cardinals led 11-5 after one quarter and went up 22-10 at halftime. The positives continued in the third, but Pella Christian rallied with a 24-9 fourth to nearly pull off a come-from-behind win.

Reynolds went into the holiday break with a career-best 21 points in a loss to Albia. She bested that number with 23 on Tuesday, and this time the Cardinals closed out the win despite basically playing the entire game without second-leading scorer Audrey Rausch.

Rausch, who averages nearly 10 points per game, was cleared to play but struggled to get up and down the floor because of a leg injury. Vander Velden considers her day-to-day. She played only the final 1:30 of the third against the Eagles.

“I told the girls you just never know when your chance to play is going to come,” Vander Velden said. “With Audrey being hurt, other girls are going to have to step up. Here’s their opportunity.”

Cadie Horn, Emily Wermager, Alex Riney and Evie Main all scored above their season averages to assist Reynolds.

Reynolds had seven of the team’s 11 points in the first and added six more in the second.

The Cardinals (3-4 overall, 1-3 in the conference) outscored the Eagles 11-5 in each of the first two frames.

Reynolds added five more in the third, but Newton also got baskets from Wermager, Horn and Riney and Main buried a 3-pointer to put the hosts up 35-17 after three.

Wermager’s triple early in the fourth made it 38-20 and Reynolds canned two free throws and converted a layup to push the margin to 42-25.

“I definitely think I’m getting more confident in myself and we are running the offense better,” Reynolds said. “I’m getting good looks, and it feels good to hit some shots.”

After that, the Eagles closed the game on a 16-2 run. Only four Pella Christian players scored in the game, but Anna Eveland put in six of her team-best 15 points in the fourth and Joslyn Terpstra scored five of her 11 in the final minute.

Eveland scored more than 11 points above her season average and Karlie Anderson’s nine points doubled her average.

The Eagles (1-8, 0-4) had the ball with a chance to tie, but Terpstra’s contested, off-balance 3 fell short and the Eagles couldn’t get a second opportunity.

“We got nervous with the close game,” Reynolds said. “We need to work on close-game situations and just find a way to calm ourselves down.”

Alex Garvis, who finished with four rebounds and four assists, was the primary defender against Terpstra, who leads the Eagles in scoring at 12 points per game.

“Give credit to Pella Christian. They came back hard in the fourth,” Vander Velden said. “I switched defenses to change it up, but it didn’t matter.

“Garvis did a good job on (Terpstra). The game plan was to slow her down and then she got into foul trouble so that helped us.”

Reynolds’ 23 points came in a variety of ways. She hit a 3, was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line and scored on three inbounds plays.

“We have been doing the same thing for a little bit and teams might have been catching on so we threw something new in there and they didn’t know what to do,” Reynolds said about the inbounds plays. “It really worked out for us.”

The Cardinals shot 50 percent from the floor and were 9-of-13 from the line. Newton turned the ball over 20 times.

Horn finished with six points and six rebounds and matched her career-best with seven blocks. The seven blocks again tied the school record.

Wermager scored six points, grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists and swiped two steals and Riney added four points and two steals.

Main scored three points and Haylie Ryan pulled down three boards.

The Cardinals also were missing backup center Marissa Cunningham. Reynolds figured she’d have to do more with her team not at full strength, but she also liked how her teammates played.

“I knew (Rausch) probably wouldn’t play as much so I knew I would have to take matters into my own hands and lead my team the way I did,” Reynolds said. “I definitely think I had to do more, but I also think we all have to do more. And our other players stepped up in their own way, too.”

Vander Velden was forced into a zone defense in the first after Reynolds picked up two fouls. He liked his team’s defense and ball pressure in the first three quarters, but not having a second ball handler on the floor caught up to the squad in the final frame.

“I think not having another primary ball handler out there hurt us tonight,” Vander Velden said. “Sophia has the ball in her hands a lot, but they used a full-court press to get back into the game.”

Notes: Newton led by as many as 18 in the fourth. The Eagles scored the game’s final nine points. … Pella Christian made eight 3s despite coming into the game shooting only 25 percent from long range. … The Eagles also were without their second-leading scorer as Faith Kacmarynski did not play. ... Newton’s junior varsity defeated Pella Christian 52-35. Bella Winther led the Cardinals with 14 points, while Riney scored 12 and Tori White put in 11.