March 29, 2024

Raiderette vengeance

Mount Ayr declaws Wolverines in road win

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GREENFIELD — Nodaway Valley and Mount Ayr played close to even basketball for the majority of Tuesday’s crucial POI contest in which the Raiderettes evened the season series 1-1 with a 47-39 win.

"They're a pretty good. That's a good win for us," Mount Ayr coach Thad Streit said.

Nowadays Valley’s McKynli Newbury hit her second 3-pointer of the game to tie the game 11-11.

The Raiderettes seized a lead early in the second as the scoring picked up for both teams.

"She's been shooting it well in practice pretty much every day," Nodaway Valley coach Tom Thompson said. "She knows that's her role and she's actually starting to step into that a little more."

Mount Ayr then surged ahead on a 7-0 run. Caylie Hickman drove down the left baseline and tossed in a layup.

Several free throws and a Sam Stewart 3-pointer from the top of the key made it an 18-11 Mount Ayr advantage.

A 20-15 halftime lead meant little to either team.

"I thought in the second quarter we really got stagnant," Thompson said. "I felt like they didn't have to move defensively a lot of the time."

The two squads battled early in the third as Annie Herr picked up on the offensive end with several buckets. Jodi Baudler knocked down a triple, and finally an Alyssa Davis bucket through several flailing arms on the defensive side meant Mount Ayr held on to just a 28-26 lead.

Neither team led by more than six again until the game’s final minutes.

When Davis hit two free throws to close the gap to two once more, Sara Winemiller, Jaycee Knight and Stewart each scored  two, for a 37-32 advantage.

That rest of the game played out similarly.

After Stewart assisted on a Keirston Klommhaus bucket and Klommhaus hit two more free throws, Newbury knocked down a another 3-pointer, only for Stewart to knock down a short jumper in transition for a 43-37 lead.

Stewart’s game was at its best Tuesday when she was running the floor, outpacing opposing defenders, running through arm slaps and contact to make shots and assist for easy twos.

The sophomore’s 19 points led all scorers, as Klommhaus added 11 more to the Raiderette cause.

“One of the things we knew we needed to do was stop Stewart on the runouts," Thompson said. "We didn’t do that very well. That was a big part of her game and we didn’t take it away."

Annie Herr was more aggressive late in the game with a spread out offense as she scored 14 points. Newbury finished with nine and Davis had eight.

Streit was most pleased with his team's defense at the end of the evening.

"I think we played pretty good defense the whole game," Streit said. We recognized who their shooters were and plugged up driving lanes. We didn't want (Alyssa) Davis to go off."

UP NEXT — Nodaway Valley (11-4, 8-2), plays host to Interstate 35 Thursday. Mount Ayr (9-4, 7-2) travels to Pleasantville (5-8, 4-6) Friday.

Running score by quarter

MA (47) 5 20 30 47

NV (39) 7 15 28 39

MA  (FG FT PTS) — 17 10-18 47. Sam Stewart 9 2-2 21, Keirston Klommhaus 4 3-4 11, Caylie Hickman 3 1-2 7, Jaycee Knight 1 2-4 4, Paige Lynch 1 1-2 3, Sara Winemiller 0 1-4 1. 3-point goals — 1 (Stewart 1). Rebounds — 27 (Stewart 8, Klommhaus 5, Knight 4, Winemiller 4, Abbey Schafer 2, Hayley Whittington 2). Assists — 11 (Stewart 4, Hickman 3). Steals — 13 (Stewart 6, Hickman 3, Paige Lynch 2). Fouls — 14. Fouled out — none.

NV (FG FT PTS) — 14 7-11 39. Annie Herr 5 4-5 14, McKynli Newbury 3 0-0 9, Alyssa Davis 3 2-2 8, Reagan Weinheimer 1 1-4 3, Jodi Baudler 1 0-0 3, Corinne Bond 1 0-0 2.