Newton girls move to .500 after road win over Hoover

DES MOINES — Des Moines Hoover sophomore Chere Ambers is listed as No. 30 on the team’s Bound roster.

So when that number didn’t appear on the scoreboard at the start of the Huskies matchup with Newton on Friday, Cardinal head coach Jake Bennett wondered if his squad was going to face a player who dropped 24 on them last season.

It turns out, Ambers number changed to 5 over the winter break. But, the Newton girls basketball team overcame another 20-point effort anyway and handed the Huskies a 58-39 home loss during non-conference action.

“It was good for us to see that because we haven’t really had to focus in on one individual player yet,” Bennett said. “I wouldn’t say it was easier or harder. It was just a good situation for us to play in because we’ll have those situations later this year.”

Newton led by five after one quarter, increased its advantage to 11 at halftime and outscored Hoover 30-22 in the second half.

Addy Cibula posted another double-double, Tori White scored a season-high 15 points and the Cardinals dominated the boards in their first game of 2026.

The victory snapped the team’s two-game skid, and Newton (4-4) improved to 4-0 against Hoover in the last four seasons.

Payton Carkhuff opened the scoring with a 3-pointer and White made a layup inside to extend Newton’s lead to 5-2.

Two free throws by White swelled the Cardinals’ advantage to 7-4 and 13-8, and that was the team’s lead after one.

White made almost half of her points from the line and was 7-of-8 in the game.

It’s been a tough start to the season for White, who admitted learning to play with an entirely new starting lineup than the past two seasons has been challenging.

“I’ve been off lately. I wanted to play my role more,” White said. “I forced too many shots the last few games and was trying to get some here and there. I want to be aggressive but also find open teammates when I can. We played really well as a group today.”

Ambers answered a pair of Cibula free throws with a three-point play early in the second, but back-to-back baskets by White pushed the lead to 19-11.

Cibula got a three-point play of her own later in the quarter and White ended the half with two more free throws. That sent the Cardinals into the locker room with a 28-17 surplus.

Bennett said the team worked a lot during the winter break on ball movement, and those improvements showed up on the floor on Friday.

“We relied pretty heavily on our defense in the first half of the season,” Bennett said. “That’s our identity, but over the break we worked on executing better on offense and moving the ball more. I thought our ball movement was excellent, sometimes too much ball movement.

“It was great to see because it was the opposite going into the break. To be able to work on that and have it translate on the floor was good to see.”

Ambers and freshman Jenesis Brooks-Hayes scored all but four of Hoover’s 39 points. Brooks-Hayes opened the third with a layup but a combined seven points from White and Cibula gave Newton a 35-22 lead.

Ambers closed the deficit to 11 with a 3-pointer and two free throws, but back-to-back baskets by Brooke Garvis extended the margin back to 17.

Newton closed the period on a 12-2 run and Camryn Klein’s jumper pushed the margin to 47-26 after three.

Klein scored four points in the game but was the Cardinal mostly responsible for guarding Ambers, who finished with 21 points to lead Hoover.

“You can tell we haven’t really done it this year so there’s still things to build off that,” Bennett said. “But Camryn did a good job being in her face the entire game and not making it easy for her. (Ambers) is a really good player. (Klein) didn’t commit a foul in the first half so we told her she could be more aggressive in the second half.”

Sophia Coady scored nine points off the bench in the win. She buried a trey after Cibula scored inside to open the fourth and a jumper by Molly Meyer extended the lead to 54-29.

Hoover (2-6) trimmed the margin to 19 three different times but couldn’t get any closer.

The 58 points Newton scored were a season high. It was the second time the Cardinals scored more than 50 this season.

“It was good to see our offense pick up a little bit,” Bennett said. “We knew we’d face a 2-3 zone. So to be able to have good ball movement and find open shooting lanes and driving lanes was good for us to see.

“That type of offense is fun. We have to continue that momentum.”

Cibula added 12 rebounds and five assists to her 15 points. She’s averaging 11 points and 10 boards per game this season.

White scored six points above her season average and added five rebounds and three assists.

Emerson Ray posted five rebounds and three assists in her second career varsity start.

Carkhuff put in five points and Garvis added six points and four rebounds off the bench. Meyer also grabbed two rebounds as a reserve.

The Cardinals shot 49 percent from the floor, made 2-of-6 from 3 and buried 12-of-15 from the foul line.

Newton turned the ball over 12 times and out-rebounded the Huskies 30-12. The Cardinals grabbed 10 offensive boards.

Brooks-Hayes had 14 points and four rebounds to go with Ambers 21 points. The Hoover duo scored the team’s first 35 points.

“It was nice going into the game because we knew those two players would take most of the shots,” White said. “I was able to dig in and help a little more off my player because (Ambers) drove a lot. The player I was guarding took one shot when I was guarding her.”

The Huskies shot 38.5 percent from the floor, made 2-of-13 from 3 and connected on 7-of-13 from the foul line. They turned the ball over 13 times.