Newton girls open regional play with loss to Knoxville

KNOXVILLE — In the first meeting against Knoxville that took place at Wells Fargo Arena earlier this season, the Newton girls’ basketball team got out to a very slow start and couldn’t recover.

In the second meeting on Wednesday, no such thing happened, but the Panthers slowly pulled away from the Cardinals during a Class 4A Region 4 quarterfinal game.

Newton struggled with unforced turnovers and Knoxville grabbed a bunch of offensive rebounds during its 59-44 home victory.

The Cardinals’ ended their season with 15 straight losses. They retire at 3-19, while Knoxville (15-7) faces 4A No. 13 Carlisle at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Carlisle.

“There were opportunities for us,” Newton head girls basketball coach Eric Vander Velden said. “We didn’t score in the first 3-4 minutes and just committed too many turnovers. Knoxville also grabbed a lot of offensive rebounds and got plenty of second-chance points, which didn’t help our cause.”

The Panthers led 13-10 after one quarter and extended the margin to 28-21 at halftime. They outscored the Cardinals 31-23 in the second half.

Sophia Reynolds led the Cardinals with 15 points, while Emily Wermager and Alex Riney each scored eight. Audrey Rausch and Evie Main scored six and three points, respectively.

Riney, Wermager and Rausch all made two 3-pointers each as the Cardinals made a season-best seven treys.

“There were some positives,” Vander Velden said. “And the girls know what we need to do to get better in the offseason.”

Unofficially, Reynolds grabbed eight rebounds, Alex Garvis had six boards, Cadie Horn pulled down five rebounds and blocked two shots and Haylie Dickerson and Riney each plucked two rebounds.

Newton unofficially shot 36 percent from the floor and made 5-of-11 from the free-throw line. Reynolds made five of her seven free throw attempts.

The Panthers made eight 3s and Hannah Dunkin and Emma Dunkin scored 16 points and 13 points, respectively.