Panthers hold off Wildcats, 37-36

STUART — Creston girls basketball coach Tony Neubauer knew that Monday’s road game at West Central Valley would be a tussle to the finish.

That’s just what these two teams do when they meet early in the season. Three meetings starting in 2023 have been decided by a total of nine points. Creston won 51-46 two years ago and came away with a 46-43 win at home last year.

Creston built leads of six or seven points for much of the second half Monday, but sure enough, by the end of the game the Wildcats had the ball trailing by one point with a chance to make a game-winning shot.

Creston rebounded a missed shot from the right wing just before the buzzer, preserving Creston’s 37-36 victory.

“We’ve played this team three years and it’s always a dogfight,” Neubauer said. “He (WCV coach Dan Druivenga) is a Hall of Fame coach for a reason. He was at Panorama with some great teams. I’ve been doing this most of my adult life, and anyone who says there’s such a thing as an ugly win has never coached. I’d rather walk out with an ugly win than the alternative. We gave up 36 points, so I’m happy with that. But we have to play better offensively.”

Creston shot 1-of-20 from 3-point range and only 25% from the field overall.

Missed layups and open perimeter shots stalled the offense in a four-point fourth quarter, allowing West Central Valley to gradually get into a position to have the ball down one with 6.8 seconds left after Creston had fouled three times to burn off seconds and force the Wildcats to reset their offense.

“We just said make them make a basketball play and stay in front of them,” Neubauer said about the timeout huddle with his defense. “If they hit a floating shot, that’s the basketball gods saying it’s their win. We wanted to make sure number 10 (Addilynn Richter) didn’t get an open look. They got a decent shot off. Braylee (Pokorny) hit two big free throws to keep us up.”

Those free throws gave Creston a 37-34 lead with 2:34 to play. Both defenses disrupted the opposing offenses down the stretch and Abbie Fennessey’s inside bucket moments later proved to be the final make of the night in the 37-36 final.

Kadley Bailey, often the recipient of long transition passes from point guard Hollynn Rieck, led Creston with 19 points. No other Panthers scored in double figures, but forward Ella Turner provided nine points and two key fourth-quarter steals for a Panther defense that forced four Wildcat turnovers in the final 1:30. Turner finished with a team-high six steals.

Rieck had a double-double with 10 assists and 10 rebounds while scoring 5 points.

Richter, West Central Valley’s leading returning scorer from a year ago (7.1 average), was one of three Wildcats finishing with eight points Monday. Ella Beldon and Zoey Reicks were the others, with Reicks hitting two 3-pointers. The Wildcats outscored Creston 15-3 from behind the 3-point arc.

“Give them credit, there were a couple of girls that weren’t in the scouting report that made shots tonight,” Neubauer said.

Creston (2-0) plays Winterset at home Monday night to open a girl-boy doubleheader against the Huskies.

WEST CENTRAL VALLEY (36) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 13 5-10 36. Ella Belden 4 0-0 8, Addi Richter 3 0-0 8, Zoey Reicks 3 0-0 8, Abbie Fennessey 2 0-2 4, Grace Bleckwehl 1 0-0 3, Macy Long 0 3-4 3, Talia Williams 0 2-4 2. 3-point goals — 5 (Richter 2, Reicks 2, Bleckwehl 1). Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — none.

CRESTON (37) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 12 10-15 37. Kadley Bailey 6 6-10 19, Ella Turner 4 1-2 9, Hollynn Rieck 2 1-2 5, Braylee Pokorny 0 2-2 2, Brynn Tussey 1 0-0 2. FG shooting — 13-52 (25.0 percent). 3-point goals — 1-20 (Bailey 1). Rebounds — 35 (Rieck 10, Turner 9, Pokorny 6, B. Tussey 5). Assists — 12 (Rieck 10, J. Tussey 2). Steals — 14 (Turner 6, Rieck 4, Pokorny 3). Blocked shots — 3 (Rieck 1, Turner 1, B. Tussey 1). Turnovers — 13. Team fouls — 12. Fouled out — None.