March 28, 2024

Panthers fly past Fillies

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The Creston girls recorded their second blowout in as many days with a 57-14 win over Shenandoah Tuesday night.

Creston head coach Tony Neubauer is happy with the win, but more excited about the way the team played throughout the game.

“I’m proud of our kids’ effort tonight, it was just phenomenal,” said Neubauer. “We got after it right from the get-go. We had four kids in double-figures, one with nine. Even when we got in foul trouble, these kids played hard and were efficient.”

Coming off a 1-2 record last week, Neubauer feels the culture is changing because of the wins this week paired with the competitive games and quality losses against Class 3A No. 6 Red Oak and Class 4A No. 8 Lewis Central.

“We take baby steps, and we’ve had four winning seasons in 26 years, said Neubauer. “Last year 11-10, this is the first time we’re four games over .500 in five years, so it’s the little things that we’re going to keep moving forward with.”

The Panthers started the game forcing turnovers with a full-court press defense which allowed for layups near the goal where there was a clear size advantage.

Kelsey Fields, Brianna Fields and Sam Dunphy used their height down low to shoot inside layups and grab offensive rebounds as the trio combined for 16 of Creston’s 21 first-quarter points.

The full-court defense paired with a variation of man-to-man, 1-2-2 and 2-3 zone defenses held Shenandoah to four points in the first half, all coming from free throws. The Fillies struggled to find a scorer after last season’s leading scorer, Logan Hughes, graduated.

“Hughes was phenomenal, just different,” said Neubauer. “They lost a lot, but we still have to prepare. We have to do things we do well. We obviously had a height advantage, but they do a good job of packing it in.”

The defense “predicated the offense” and did what Neubauer wanted as the Fillies didn’t knock down a field goal until the reserves were in late in the fourth quarter.

Exiting early, Sydney Hartsock finished with 11 points to lead the team with two 3-pointers. Sam Dunphy, Braelyn Baker and Kelsey Fields scored 10 points each.

After having a stretch of consecutive games, the Panthers are able to get back in the gym to practice rather than play in a game.

“We’ve only had one practice in four games,” said Neubauer. “So, it’ll be nice to have a couple days of practice to get recharge a little bit and get after it.”

UP NEXT – Creston faces Kuemper Catholic on the road Friday with a 6 p.m. start time.

Junior Varsity

Creston took down Shenandoah 32-29 Tuesday.

The Panthers trailed late until making a comeback in the final minutes of the game.

Keely Coen scored 10 points for the Panthers as the lone double-digit scorer. Morgan Driskell scored seven points and Neveah Randall scored six.

Creston 71, Clarke 26

Creston (71) — 33 16 17 5

Clarke (26) — 4 8 7  7

Creston (FG FT PTS) — Totals —26 10-12 71. Kelsey Fields 12 4-5 30, Brianna Fields 4 3-3 11, Ryle Driskell 3 0-0 9, Braelyn Baker 3 0-0 8, Sydney Hartsock 2 0-0 6, Sam Dunphy 1 2-2 4, Doryn Paup 1 0-0 2, Anna Mikkelsen 0 1-2 1. 3-point goals — 9 (Driskell 3, Hartsock 2, Baker 2, Kelsey Fields 2). Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — None.

Clarke (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 9 6-10 26. Shayla Hembry 2 3-3 7, Kiaya Dunbar 2 1-2 6, Kaitlyn Halsband 2 1-2 5, Tori White 2 0-0 5, Alivia Bakley 1 0-0 2, Kelli McAfee 0 1-2 1. 3-point goals — 2 (Dunbar 1, White 1). Team fouls — 7. Fouled out — None.