March 28, 2024

Creston girls beat Kuemper

Panthers seize control with 22-8 third quarter

Image 1 of 2

A troublesome tendency to start games slowly didn’t hold the Creston girls back from taking another step forward Friday night.

After falling behind 5-0 and 12-8 in the first quarter, the Panthers seized the momentum in building a 15-point lead on the way to ending with a 61-54 home victory over Carroll Kuemper Catholic.

The win improved the Panthers to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Hawkeye 10 — matching last year’s conference win total — while the Knights fell to 2-5 and 2-2.

Four of Kuemper’s starters were members of the school’s 45-1 state championship volleyball team. To win this matchup against the likes of Brooklyn Bakke, Maci Overmohle and 6-foot-3 Kara Peter from that volleyball championship lineup is a positive sign for this year’s Panther team under new coach Tony Neubauer.

“Obviously they have athletes and they have some size,” Neubauer said. “This is a good win for our girls because last year we were down by one against Kuemper going into the fourth quarter and got beat by 12. A year’s experience has helped them.”

The Panthers, hampered by six unforced turnovers in the opening seven minutes while falling behind, held up under Kuemper’s full court press in the fourth quarter. The spread offense designed to expire the clock to get layups or force Kuemper to foul in the fourth quarter worked well without the number of mistakes that occurred early in the game.

“We were able to finish,” said senior Brielle Baker, the school’s all-time leading five-player scorer. “Last year I feel like we got nervous and panicked a lot. This year we’re taking care of things better. We’re more experienced.”

Baker had a strong overall effort, finishing with seven rebounds, four assists and six steals while scoring a game-high 22 points.

If not for two 3-pointers by point guard Sydney Hartsock, the Panthers would have been shut out in the opening five minutes as Kuemper held the lead. By the end of the period it had closed to 14-12 and the Panthers went into halftime leading 31-30, finishing with a two-on-one fast break executed by Bree Ross and Brielle Baker.

Creston owned the third quarter, 22-8, to open up a 53-38 lead entering the final period. Kelsey Fields and Sam Dunphy, who finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively, each converted jump shots from the free throw line area while Brielle and Braelyn Baker were mixing in layups and 3-pointers.

“Coach said at halftime to look inside more at Sam and Kelsey and if they’re not open, to pass it back out,” Brielle Baker said. “We just needed to work more inside-out. I think that helped us more than just rotating it around.”

“We hit some threes in the first half against their zone, but we did not get the ball into the high post and we emphasized that at halftime,” Neubauer said. “Getting Sam and Kelsey involved made a big difference. They had good 12-to-15 foot shots in there. Our third quarters have been good this year. We just have to figure out a way to start games better.”

The Panthers finish the pre-holiday break with games tonight (Monday) at Chariton and Thursday at Class 4A eighth-ranked Lewis Central.

“I’m excited about the games coming up, because it gets us ready for tournament play,” Neubauer said. “After Chariton we have Lewis Central, Treynor (Class 2A No. 2), Red Oak (Class 3A No. 7) and Denison-Schleswig (5-1). I want to end the season the right way, and playing strong competition will help us.”

UP NEXT — Chariton goes into tonight’s (Monday) non-conference matchup at 2-5 for the season, coming off a 41-28 loss to Interstate 35. The Panthers will be looking to improve to 5-2.

Kuemper (54) — 14 16 8 16

Creston (61) — 12 19 22 8

KUEMPER CATHOLIC (54) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 22 4-6 54. Mallory Badding 6 0-0 14, Kara Peter 6 1-2 13, Brooklyn Bakke 4 1-2 10, Kayla Venner 3 2-2 9, Maci Overmohle 2 0-0 6, Maci Wittrock 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 6 (Badding 2, Overmohle 2, Bakke 1, Venner 1). Team fouls — 20. Fouled out — Bakke. Technical fouls — Kuemper bench.

CRESTON (61) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 22 12-17 61. Brielle Baker 6 8-9 22, Kelsey Fields 6 1-2 13, Sam Dunphy 4 2-2 10, Sydney Hartsock 3 1-4 9, Bree Ross 2 0-0 4, Braelyn Baker 1 0-0 3. FG shooting — 22-47 (46.8 percent). 3-point goals — 5-18 (Hartsock 2, Brielle Baker 2, Braelyn Baker 1). Rebounds — 30 (Dunphy 8, Brielle Baker 7, Fields 7, Ross 4). Assists — 18 (Braelyn Baker 7, Hartsock 5, Brielle Baker 4). Steals — 14 (Brielle Baker 6, Hartsock 3, Braelyn Baker 3). Blocked shots — 8 (Fields 4, Dunphy 3). Team fouls — 13. Fouled out — None.

JV wins easily

Freshman Brianna Fields scored 18 points to lead Creston to a dominating 51-21 JV win over Kuemper Catholic Friday night.

“I was pleased with our effort and our attitude,” said Creston coach Bryant McCabe. “We came out and moved the ball well. They came out and played that zone and we hung 20 something on them. They went to man-to-man and our kids adjusted well.”

Defensively, McCabe said it was a strong effort with only seven points allowed at halftime.

“Our help side was a million times better than what it has been in the past,” McCabe said.

Creston (51) — Brianna Fields 18, Kara Kinsella 8, Heylee Shields 7, Rylie Driskell 5, Ashley Reynard 4, Halle Evans 3, Mathilde Risager 2, Anna Mikkelsen 2, Payton Luther 2. 3-point goals — Driskell 1.

Kuemper Catholic (21) — Karly Baumhover 9, Megan Bauer 6, Kora Thomsen 5, Kyndal Hilgenberg 1. 3-point goals — Baumhover 1.