Baxter girls fire up intensity, pull away from Colo-NESCO

BAXTER — Emie Tuhn has scored more points than any other Baxter Bolt in the short history of the program.

But sometimes she can be unselfish to a fault. And when she decided to take a few more shots against Colo-NESCO on Tuesday, the Bolts created the separation they needed to grab control of the contest, and Baxter dominated the second half during a 50-27 home win.

“She’s one of the most unselfish players I’ve coached,” Baxter head girls basketball coach Kyle Krampe said. “She has the green light on our team. I want her to be aggressive and sometimes she needs to go to the basket and score or get fouled.”

The Bolts led 7-6 after one quarter against the Royals. Tuhn barely attempted any shots in the frame, but put in nine of her game-high 21 in the second. That output helped Baxter lead by eight at the break, and her quick five points the third pushed the margin to double-digits. It stayed that way for the rest of the game.

“It’s hard to balance it. I like to prioritize sharing the ball and getting open looks for my teammates,” Tuhn said. “But sometimes I think about that before I think about my own shots. It takes me a while to get into a groove, and it’s challenging for me to know when it’s my time to shoot more often.”

The Bolts (8-4, 6-1 in the conference) have won eight of the past nine games against Colo-NESCO. The two teams have split the first 20 matchups since 2007.

But it took Baxter more than eight minutes to grab a significant advantage.

Kamdyn Krampe scored five of her 14 points in the first, but the Bolts only led by one after the quarter.

Tuhn buried a 3-pointer to open the second and then her steal and layup later pushed the margin to 12-7. She finished the half with back-to-back buckets inside the lane, and the Bolts led 19-11 at the break.

Baxter won the third 17-5 to put the game away. All of those points came from Tuhn, Kamdyn Krampe and Kendall Brummel.

Tuhn opened the second half with a 3 and another steal and layup. A 9-0 run by the Bolts that featured two layups from Tuhn and five points from Kamdyn Krampe extended their advantage to 34-14.

The Royals (1-9, 0-6) never got closer than 18 the rest of the way. Hannah Huffaker scored all four of her points in the final frame, and Kamdyn Krampe and Tuhn added triples to close out the win.

“We were lackadaisical. I challenged them at halftime, and you can see when we play with effort, we are such a better team,” Coach Krampe said. “When we can play in the full court, apply defensive pressure and turn the other team over, that’s when we are at our best.”

The Bolts turned the Royals over 40 times. Coach Krampe took some of the blame for his team not coming out with more intensity to start the game.

One player he doesn’t have to fire up is Brummel, who brings a positive intensity at both ends of the floor. She finished with nine points, six rebounds, eight steals and two blocks to compliment Tuhn and Kamdyn Krampe.

“We are still playing with some young players, and I can’t expect them to get going on their own,” Coach Krampe said. “I think I can do a better job with that myself also. That’s on me.

“I love Kendall’s effort and energy, and that brings juice to the rest of the team. She gets the toughest defensive assignment because of her effort and how hard she plays. She goes and gets it.”

Tuhn led the Bolts with 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and seven steals. Kamdyn Krampe added 14 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks.

Baxter turned the ball over 17 times and was out-rebounded 32-24. But the Bolts swiped 26 steals and blocked six shots in the victory.

“Our intensity on defense got a lot better,” Tuhn said about the team’s second-half performance. “We guarded them closer and affected their ball handlers, and that gave us more energy and helped at the offensive end, too.”

Kaylyn Krampe chipped in three rebounds, three assists and four steals, Avery Wonders grabbed a pair of boards and Myah Johnston totaled two steals.

The Bolts won the game despite shooting only 31.7 percent from the floor and making just 4-of-25 from distance. They were 6-of-8 from the free-throw line though.

Abigail Kettwig led the Royals with six points and 11 boards, while Jadyn Niemeyer added nine rebounds and four assists.

Colo-NESCO came into the game shooting only 5.8 percent from 3 and committing 30.4 turnovers per contest. The Royals were 5-of-86 from 3 before the game but finished 1-of-1 against the Bolts.

“We just wanted to play full-court pressure defense,” Coach Krampe said. “We were a little rusty out of break. Our focus was effort and just competing. I really thought we competed in the second half a lot better than the first half.”

Notes: Tuhn played in her first home game since scoring her 1,000th career point. She was recognized before the game for the milestone and now has a school-record 1,059 career points. “It’s really cool, and it’s nice to have supportive teammates,” Tuhn said.

Baxter 49, Meskwaki Settlement School 28

BAXTER — Kamdyn Krampe posted her first career double-double, Brummel set a new personal best for rebounds in a game and the Bolts cruised to a 49-28 home win over Meskwaki Settlement School on Friday.

The Bolts led 11-6 after one and outscored the Warriors 17-8 in the second. They won the second half 22-14.

Kamdyn Krampe led Baxter with 18 points and a career-best 11 rebounds and added two assists, two steals and two blocks.

Tuhn posted 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals and Karlee Koehler returned from injury to produce six points, five rebounds and three assists.

“For us to be successful, we need Emie and Kamdyn to score the basketball,” Coach Krampe said. “That’s what they are good at, and that’s what we need from them.”

Brummel registered seven points, a career-high 10 rebounds and two assists, Kaylyn Krampe grabbed six boards and Huffaker collected three rebounds.

The Bolts shot 30.5 percent from the floor, made both of their free throw attempts and turned the ball over 19 times. They also grabbed 19 offensive rebounds.

Baxter made a season-best 11 treys in the win. It finished 11-of-33 from deep and Tuhn and Kamdyn Krampe both were 4-of-11.

The Bolts are 9-7 against Meskwaki Settlement (4-5, 4-3) since 2017. Baxter has won two straight and nine of the past 11 in the series.

North Mahaska 59, Baxter 27

NEW SHARON — A tough shooting night and 26 turnovers plagued the Bolts against Class 2A No. 2 North Mahaska on Monday.

Baxter trailed by 16 after one and never recovered during a 59-27 non-conference road loss.

The Bolts shot 28 percent from the floor, made 3-of-14 from 3 and were held to single digits in three of the four quarters. They also were out-rebounded 36-27.

Kamdyn Krampe led Baxter with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists and Tuhn added five points, four rebounds and three assists.

Huffaker collected four points and five boards, Brummel had six points, two steals and two blocks and Wonders collected four points and three rebounds.

Kaylyn Krampe finished with three rebounds, three assists and two steals and Johnston grabbed two boards.

Sydney Anderson led North Mahaska (13-1) with 16 points and eight rebounds. The Warhawks were 6-of-21 from 3 and turned it over 11 times.