Baker and Fields power Panthers past Atlantic

ATLANTIC – Brielle Baker and Kelsey Fields imposed their will over Atlantic Friday evening as the Creston Panthers girls basketball team won 59-52 over their Hawkeye 10 counterparts.

Fields and Baker combined for 52 of the Panthers 59 points and contributed in other areas as well.

Fields posted a monstrous double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 16 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end of the floor.

“Fields, from game one to game five, she has really come so far and she still has so much potential to grow into,” said Panther head coach Britt Roberts. “(She) absolutely dominated the glass.”

Baker finished with a game-high 31 points on 10 of 16 shooting, she was also able to gather up eight rebounds. She managed her way to 12 free throws, sinking 10 of them.

“Brielle has really come into her own these last few games. We’ve worked to get her the ball where she’s most dangerous,” said Roberts. “We’ve taken away some ball handling duties away from her and I think that’s made a huge difference in her confidence.”

The Panthers led at halftime and stretched their lead to 12 points at one point in the fourth quarter.

Atlantic answered and shrunk the deficit to four points, but its inability to contain the Panther duo quickly showed to be its undoing.

The Panthers only allowed Atlantic 16 points in the first half, but defensive consistency on both sides of the floor vanished in the second.

“”I was dissapointed in our inability to get the ball stopped in transition,” Roberts said. “Luckily our offense was hitting. We really worked the ball inside and Atlantic didn’t have an answer for Kesley.”

As Fields has shown quick growth, Roberts and company have gameplanned to get her more involved, especially against a smaller Atlantic team that doesn’t host a girl over 6-0 on its roster.

Roberts admits there is still plenty to work on, but the experience the team is gaining early in the season is invaluable.

“At any given point in the game, 85 percent of the girls have never been in that situation before,” said Roberts. “They are learning so much every practice and every game and they’ve really bought into that process.”

Sam Dunphy and Peyton Rice added the other seven points for the Panthers.

UP NEXT – Creston (3-2) travels to take on another conference foe in Harlan. The Cyclones are coming off a loss to Denison-Schleswig after toppling Shenandoah by 10.

“We will have to control the glass and its going to be a defensive dog fight,” said Roberts about the Panthers upcoming oppnent. “Most tenacious played defense will win out.”

Crest (59) – 11 11 20 17

Atl (52) – 9 7 20 16

Crest (FG FT PTS) – Totals – 22 14-22 59. Brielle Baker 10 10-12 31, Kelsey Fields 10 1-6 21, Sam Dunphy 1 3-4 5, Peyton Rice 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals – 1 (Baker 1). Rebounds – 32 (Fields 16, Baker 8, Maitlen 5, Wallace 1, Rice, 1 Dunphy 1).

Atl (FG FT PTS) – Totals – 20 8-10 52. Mckenzie Water 5 6-6 16, Cheyenne Elliot 6 1-3 13, Haley Rassmussen 4 1-1 10, Baylee Newell 2 0-0 6, Alyssa Ginther 2 0-0 5, Riley Seufert 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals – 4 (Newell 2, Rassmussen 1, Ginther 1).