Strong first half powers Creston to easy win

The first three minutes of Tuesday’s Hawkeye 10 Conference girls basketball game belonged to Clarinda.

The next seven minutes over a stretch of the first and second quarters belonged to Creston.

The Panthers dominated the middle portion of the first half in cruising to a 59-32 win over the Cardinals at Panther Gym.

Clarinda scored the game’s first three points.

Creston countered with a 26-0 run to seize control of the game.

“That felt really good,” said Creston sophomore Brielle Baker.

Creston’s start mirrored what it did in last Tuesday’s home win against Knoxville.

Creston coach Ryan McKim and assistants Britt Roberts and Mallory

Peterson now have proof to tell the team what their potential is in future games.

“It gives us as coaches some credibility in practice to get them to understand how they’re capable of playing,” McKim said.

Leading the early surge was Baker. She had 17 of her game-high 28 points in the opening half.

Baker also made her way to the free throw line regularly, shooting 19 times from the charity stripe and making 15.

“That’s a pretty good night’s work,” McKim said.

“Brielle did a good job on the offensive end, no doubt about it,” McKim said.

Cammy Rutherford’s play on the low post gave the rest of the Panther offense plenty of room to maneuver.

“When we got the ball inside, (Rutherford) would either get an open look or she would pass it out and one of us would get an open look,” Baker said. “Every time we passed the ball into her, our offense ran really good.”

Rutherford had 11 points, six in the first half. Sophomore Breanna Wallace scored 10 points, all in the first half.

Creston’s offense clicked as well as it has all season in posting one of the Panthers’ season-high totals in a half with 38 points.

“We did a really good job offensively in the first half,” McKim said. “Thirty-eight points — that’s really good for us, almost a game for us.”

Creston also was aggressive chasing down rebounds both offensively and defensively.

“Boards have been killing us against good teams,” Baker said. “McKim told us we needed to crash the boards. That was one of our focuses. Good boards led to good things.”

The Panthers led 38-15 at halftime.

Creston’s offensive pace slowed down a bit in the second half, but the Panthers defense was plenty strong enough as Clarinda never mounted a serious offensive charge in the final 16 minutes.

Finding a strong effort for four full quarters is something McKim and the team are in search of.

“We started the right way. The problem is we’ve got to figure out how to do it for four full quarters,” McKim said.

Taylor Wedemeyer led Clarinda with 11 points.

UP NEXT — Creston (5-8, 2-5) hosts St. Albert (10-3, 5-1) Friday in Hawkeye 10 play with tip-off set for 6 p.m.

“It will be a good game. That’s a good team,” McKim said.

CLAR: Scoring — Taylor Wedemeyer 2 4-6 11, Maddie Hartley 2 4-6 8, Joslyn Wiilliams 1 0-3 2, Grace Davidson 1 0-1 2, Lauren Bair 3 3-7 9. 3-point goals: 1 (Taylor Wedemeyer 1). Free throw: 11-23. Team Fouls — 22. Fouled out - Lauren Bair.

CRES: Scoring — Cayla Maitlen 1 0-0 2, Saige Rice 1 0-0 2, Bree Ross 0 0-0 0, Lexie little 1 2-4 4, Brielle Baker 5 15-19 28, Breanna Wallace 2 1-4 10, Kesia Stewart 1 0-0 2, Logan Pettit 0 0-0 0, Cammy Rutherford 3 5-6 11, Grace Root 0 0-0 0. 3-point goals: 3 (Breanna Wallace 2, Brielle Baker 1). Free throws: 22-30. Team fouls — 21. Fouled out — Saige Rice.

CLAR (32)  3 12 6 9

CRES (59) 14 24 9 12

JUNIOR VARSITY

Creston’s JV pulled out a 42-20 win.

The Panthers defense was impressive throughout. Creston led 13-5 after one quarter, 21-7 at halftime and 33-17 after three quarters.

Cayla Maitlen and Kara Kinsella powered the Panther offense, scoring 12 and 11 points respectively.

“Kara Kinsella and Cayla Maitlen both played well for us,” Roberts said.

The Panthers’ legs were a little worn down late, but the lead was plenty large enough.

“Fatigue set in later in the game, but we were able to keep our lead and finish out,” Roberts said.

There was no freshman game as the Cardinals did not have enough players for a game.

CRES: Scoring — Cayla Maitlen 6 0-0 12, Bree Ross 1 1-1 3, Kara Kinsella 4 3-5 11, Sydney Hartsock 1 0-2 2, Mary Ott 0 0-1 0, Kesia Stewart 2 0-0 4, Heylee Shields 3 1-2 7, Grace Root 1 0-2 2. 3’s: none. Free throws: 5-12. Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — None.

CLAR (20)  5 2 8 5

CRES (42) 13 8 12 9