Panthers outmatched against Saintes

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The Panthers traveled to St. Albert Tuesday where they were outsized and outplayed by the Saintes in an 81-21 Hawkeye 10 loss.

While the Panthers only put up 21 points in four quarters, the Saintes had 28 in the first quarter.

“Point blank, our last three first quarters we’ve been outscored 64-12,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “We absolutely have to get off to better starts in order to compete with good teams like St. Albert. Last night our youth showed. We have to be able to adapt when other teams take away what we do well.”

Only completing seven shots from the field, the Panthers shot under 20% on the night. Sophomore Hollynn Rieck led the team with 9 points, including two 3-pointers.

With size on their side, the Saintes found 47 rebounds compared to 20 by the Panthers.

“Digging such a big hole forced us to play man more defense than we wanted to, which caused a lot of mismatch problems,” Neubauer explained. “It was one of the nights where our game plan blew up in our face. We also need to be a lot more technically sound with our rebounding. We’re not tall enough to get away with not boxing people out.”

Though St. Albert scored 41 points on the Panthers’ 23 turnovers, Creston held their 6′4″ center Missy Evezic to only 12 points.

“Six of those were their last six points in the fourth quarter after we cleared our bench,” Neubauer said. “Our half court defense wasn’t terrible the first quarter, but they hurt us on the boards and with their defensive pressure which allowed them to get into their transition offense.”

Sophomore starter Kadley Bailey put up four rebounds and six points. Braylee Pokorny came off the bench to lead the Panthers with five rebounds.

“We’ve obviously disappointed in our play last night,” Neubauer said. “But that starts and ends with us. We had a good talk last night after the game. Everyone agreed that we’re going to work our tails off in practice the next two days, and we are bound and determined to put a better product on the floor against Atlantic on Friday.”