Big second quarter propels L-S girls to SICL win over rival North Mahaska

SULLY — North Mahaska scored 10 of the first 14 points of the game, and the Warhawks put in 14 points in the first quarter to take an early lead against Class 1A No. 6 Lynnville-Sully on Friday.

But the Hawks responded with a big second-quarter run and put away one of their biggest rivals with a strong fourth quarter during a 44-30 home win in girls basketball action.

“It’s been a long time coming. It’s pretty exciting,” Lynnville-Sully senior Kate Harthoorn said. “These are big games. We’ll see competitive teams like this down the road, too, so it helps us get ready for tournament-time games. And this atmosphere helps us. It gives us confidence that we can win these kind of games.”

It was standing room only for one of the games that will decide this year’s South Iowa Cedar League champion.

It wasn’t Harthoorn’s first win over the Warhawks, but North Mahaska is 13-2 in the series since Dec. 10, 2019. The two teams have split the last four though.

“I’ve been telling them for two days that it was going to be fun and electric,” Lynnville-Sully head girls basketball coach Jerry Hulsing said. “Before the game, I challenged them to have more fun than me because I knew I would have a blast coaching this one.

“The kids played a heck of a ball game after coming out a little slow. They stayed the course for 32 minutes.”

The Hawks certainly wanted to start faster. North Mahaska scored first and back-to-back 3-pointers from Addisen Falb and Carly Lake extended the visitor’s lead to 10-4.

From that point on though, Lynnville-Sully controlled the game. Breah Lowry’s triple with 1:52 left in the first trimmed the margin to 10-7.

The Hawks (8-0) trailed by five after one, and North Mahaska scored first in the second.

But Lake’s reverse layup were the Warhawks’ only points in the period.

Tatum Huyser began the deciding 13-0 run with a drive to the basket and Harthoorn banked in a jumper late in the shot clock to get the Hawks within three.

Lowry tied the game with a steal and a layup at the other end. She put the Hawks in front for good with a 3, and Harthoorn buried a trey to close out the half.

“It was a great atmosphere to play in and was a very intense game,” Lowry said. “Our defense got better in the second quarter. They started out strong, but our defense was able to slow them down. Those back-to-back 3s really helped our momentum.”

Another 3 by Harthoorn and another layup from Lowry swelled the Hawks’ margin to 27-18. North Mahaska got within six after three thanks to a 3 by Lake in the closing seconds.

The two teams traded points early in the fourth, but Harthoorn’s 3 pushed the lead back to nine and Huyser’s reverse layup extended it to double digits.

Harthoorn made four free throws in the final 1:10 to close out the win. The Hawks are now 6-0 in conference play.

Harthoorn scored 10 of her 15 points in the second half and put in seven of those in the fourth. She was 3-of-5 from 3 and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.

“We started slow and were a little amped up,” Harthoorn said. “We finally got things rolling in the second quarter, and that gave us the confidence we needed to finish the game.”

Harthoorn added two rebounds and three steals. Lowry led the Hawks with 15 points, three rebounds, two assists and eight steals. She scored 10 of her 15 in the first half and was 2-of-3 from long range.

Ava Brummel posted five points and eight rebounds and Huyser finished with four points, five boards, three assists and three steals.

Brooke Harthoorn totaled three points and two rebounds and Isabelle Vos and Brilynn Tice both pulled down five boards.

Nataliya Linder and former Lynnville-Sully Hawk Jolan Fogle made things tough inside for the Hawks. Linder finished with 15 rebounds, three steals and three blocks and Lake put in 14 points.

“North Mahaska has good size inside so our advantage tonight was in the guard play,” Hulsing said. “We had to make some outside shots to be successful. I still think we had shots early at the rim we need to finish. We’ll learn from that, keep getting better and work on it.

“I think we have the ability to spread defenses out with our outside shooting and get to the rim and finish.”

The Hawks shot 35 percent from the floor, made 5-of-9 from 3 and buried 11-of-16 from the foul line. They turned the ball over 17 times, but North Mahaska committed 22 turnovers.

The Warhawks (3-3, 3-2) were plagued by 24.5 percent shooting. They were 4-of-19 from 3 and 2-of-8 from the foul line.

Notes: North Mahaska can make the case it should be a ranked team in 1A, too. Its two other losses were 32-31 to 1A No. 11 Montezuma and 46-43 to 3A No. 8 PCM. “They graduated their whole team from last year so that may be why they are not ranked yet,” Hulsing said. “They are putting their pieces together. They keep getting better and better and are starting to figure out how to play together.” … Harthoorn, Lowry and Vos are all averaging 10 points or more. Lowry’s eight steals improve her per-game average to 5.8, which ranks fifth in 1A. “I have a mindset that if I can steal the ball at one end, it’s easier to score at the other,” Lowry said. “My goal is to have a first half with not a lot of fouls. That way I can play even more aggressive in the second half.”