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CORNING – From the jump, the Mount Ayr girls had full control of the game Tuesday night, rolling over Southwest Valley on the road 64-37.
The Raiderettes improved to 8-2 while Southwest Valley fell to 6-5 and snapped its four game winning streak.
In the first half Mount Ayr jumped ahead to a 13-5 lead, extending it to a 14-point lead at 29-15. The black and red played clean basketball, not forcing shots inside and playing efficiently on the defensive end.
The heat of the Class 2A No. 13 team in the state was felt on the Timberwolves from the
moment the clock started running. SWV head coach Michael Webb feels Mount Ayr’s reputation and its notable status in the state rankings may have psyched out some players.
“I think we felt the pressure of them,” said Webb. “They (Southwest Valley players) knew Mount Ayr was a great team. ... I think we were more scared tonight than looking forward to the opportunity of facing a good team.”
In the first half Mount Ayr jumped ahead to a 13-5 lead on a Timberwolves team that was struggling to bring the ball inside with ease, extending it to a 14-point lead at 29-15. The black and red played clean basketball, not forcing shots inside and playing efficiently on the defensive end.
“I thought we played smart tonight,” said Mount Ayr head coach Streit. “We didn’t have very many fouls and that’s been our key all year, to stay out of foul trouble and have our studs on the floor.”
Entering halftime the Raiderettes had three fouls, one of which brought SWV’s Jentry Schafer to the free-throw line early in the contest. She missed both shots.
“We had three fouls at halftime and we finished with 11,” said Streit. “That’s important and we’ve got to play smart and not help them out. You’ve just got to do your job. If they get a good possession, they earned it, and don’t give them another one. I thought we played smart tonight.”
The Timberwolves went an astonishing 3-for-7 from the line in contrast to Mount Ayr’s 16-for-22 clip. Streit feels the game may have transpired differently had the Timberwolves been to the stripe more.
“Their two bigs (Kayley Myers and Schafer) got in foul trouble early and had a lot them,” said Streit. “They’re two good players and we were worried about them scoring.”
Myers was kept off the board, not scoring a point. Schafer scored six points.
Maggie Haer and Jilian Simmons were the team leaders in points, each scoring eight points.
For Mount Ayr they were led by the scoring of Sam Stewart. Stewart scored 22 points in the first half, finishing with 24 with most of the second half spent on the bench.
Webb felt Stewart, one of the best scorers in the conference, had no issues with anything that was thrown at her on the SWV defensive end.
“Sam’s great,” said Webb. “She can finish very well and unfortunately tonight I think we made it easy on her, she had a lot of easy layups. I think she had two free throws, made them both and shot one jump shot. Everything else was layups. ... To Sam’s credit, she found the gaps.”
The Raiderettes had double digit scoring from Channler Henle, scoring 11 and Rachel Sobotka, scoring 17.
Webb felt there was a chance to limit the Raiderettes as a whole on offense, not just Stewart.
“They don’t shoot threes very much and they don’t shoot it well. You know what they were going to do? They were going to come in here shooting layups,” said Webb. “That’s how they’ve beat teams and they shoot a very high percentage. We knew what they wanted to do, but we just couldn’t stop it.”
Mount Ayr 64, Southwest Valley 37
MA (67) — 17 17 23 7
SWV (37) — 13 4 10 10
MOUNT AYR (FG FT PTS) — Totals —22 16-22 64. Sam Stewart 10 4-4 24, Rachel Sobotka 5 6-8 17, Channler Henle 4 0-0 11, Maddie Stewart 1 3-4 5. 3-point goals – 4 (Henle 3, Sobotka 1). Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — None.
SOUTHWEST VALLEY (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 12 3-7 37. Maggie Haer 2 2-2 8, Jilian Simmons 3 0-0 8, Jentry Schafer 3 0-0 6, Marah Larsen 2 0-0 4. 3-point goals – 6 (Haer 2, Simmons 2, Rylee Jacobs 1, Abbie Wetzel 1). Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — none.