Newton girls stay unbeaten with double-digit win over Grinnell

Addy Cibula wants to lead the Little Hawkeye Conference in rebounding this season.

And after two games, the Cardinal sophomore is the leader in the clubhouse.

Cibula’s 11 rebounds against Grinnell on Tuesday helped the Newton girls basketball team improve to 2-0 as Payton Carkhuff added 12 points and the Cardinals defeated the Tigers for the second straight season.

Newton scored the final five points of the second quarter and the first five points of the third to go up by double digits and went on to down the Tigers 44-31 during non-conference action.

“We executed after a timeout there late in the first half, and a lot of the points we got came in transition,” Newton head girls basketball coach Jake Bennett said. “Our defensive intensity to begin the second half was strong, and that helped get us create some separation.”

Grinnell is 30-6 against Newton since 2006, but the Cardinals started their own streak after making 14-of-21 from the free-throw line and holding the Tigers to single digits in all four quarters.

Newton led 8-5 after one and led 15-12 late in the first half before going on a run that put the Cardinals in front 22-14 at halftime.

The 7-2 spurt included a Sophia Coady layup, a free throw by Carkhuff and four straight points from Camryn Klein.

The first five of third came on a Cibula free throw, a runner from Carkhuff and a jumper from Coady.

“There are some things we haven’t really practiced a bunch yet, like back cuts and high post stuff, but I thought the girls were able to see the floor and execute those well,” Bennett said. “They moved the ball, were patient and met our passes late in the game when they put more pressure on. I thought we stayed composed well in those situations.”

Grinnell (0-1) scored six straight to get back within seven, but the Cardinals led by nine after three following a jumper from Brooke Garvis and a hoop with the harm from Tori White.

The Tigers scored first in the fourth to close the gap to seven once again, but Newton (2-0) scored eight of the next 10 to extend the margin to 13.

That spurt featured a step back 3-pointer by Carkhuff, two free throws from Coady and a three-point play by Klein.

Newton scored the rest of its points from the foul line as Garvis was 2-of-2 and Carkhuff sunk 3-of-4 in the final 40 seconds.

“The first opponent scored 33, and we gave up 31 today,” Bennett said. “Any time we can keep the opponent in the low 30s, that gives us a good opportunity to win the game.”

Cibula finished with eight points, 11 rebounds and three steals. She’s averaging a league-best 13 boards per game through two contests.

“It’s fun. I like to win,” Cibula said. “I like our connection with each other, and our defense has been really good. I think we’re doing a good job of finding the right shot in our offense.

“I like the way I’m boxing out right now, and I like getting points after offensive rebounds.”

Carkhuff finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and two assists. She made both of Newton’s triples and was 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Coady added nine points, Klein pitched in seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals and White contributed four points and seven rebounds.

Garvis totaled four points and two boards and Emerson Ray grabbed three rebounds off the bench.

Newton shot 31 percent from the floor, made 2-of-6 from 3 and turned the ball over 12 times.

“It’s nice to have a balanced offense,” Bennett said. “That’s how we’ve been the past few years, too, but depending on how defenses play us, we’ll find our advantages and disadvantages. We found a few of those at halftime and that really turned the table for us.

(Cibula) is one who gives her best effort in practice, and her intensity and enthusiasm is what I like most about her. All of the girls feed off each other, and Addy has done a good job setting the tone this year.”

The Tigers got 12 points from Aiden Gosselink and seven from Hope Dana. They were 2-of-8 from the foul line and made just one 3.