Panthers’ upset falls short in OT loss to No. 14 Atlantic

ATLANTIC — For more than three quarters Friday, the Creston girls led the Atlantic Trojans on the road. In the end, the Trojans mounted a comeback, forcing overtime and taking the win 54-51.

“Friday was a really good high school basketball game,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “Our kids played their tails off.”

The Panthers (3-3) got out to a hot start, leading 14-10 after the first quarter and 23-17 at the half.

But with four minutes remaining in regulation, Atlantic (4-2) had taken a 6-point lead. Back to back 3-pointers by Creston seniors Kadley Bailey and Ella Turner brought the game back to a tie.

Another score from the field put Creston up two. With 16 seconds left, Bailey was fouled, hitting one of two free throws to give Creston a 3-point lead.

“They ran a box set, and it looked like they were trying to set up a play for their best shooter [Zoey Kirchhoff] But [Makenna Schroeder] caught it at 25-feet off of the screen and immediately shot it and buried it,” Neubauer said. “In overtime, they just made a few more plays than us.”

Creston was outscored 27-21 in the second half and 10-7 in overtime.

“It definitely stings to be that close to beating a ranked team on the road,” Neubauer said. “But I told our kids that we’d rather have our heart broken in December than February. It exposed some late game things that we need to work on.”

Bailey dominated scoring again for the Panthers, logging a game-high 28 points, including shooting 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Bailey leads Class 3A in scoring and field goals with 121 points and 49 field goals, seven higher than the next best.

Senior Brynn Tussey finished with seven points and six rebounds while Turner added six points and contributed eight rebounds including three offensive.

Senior Hollynn Rieck had a game-high 11 rebounds, also adding six assists, two steals and six points. She also had Creston’s only shot block on the night. Rieck leads Class 3A in assists with 32. Despite her 5-7 frame, she is tied for second in defensive rebounds with 38. Rieck is the shortest player in the top 10.

Creston was much more accurate from the field than the Trojans, though they took significantly less shots. The Panthers were 42.2% from the field in shooting 19-of-45. They were 7-of-16 behind the arc.

The Trojans also completed 19 shots from the field, but had 62 attempts for 30.6%. From the 3-point line, they were 23.1%, hitting six of 26. Atlantic was led by Kirchhoff with 16 points and Schroeder with 12. Atlantic excelled at ball control, committing just six turnovers.

“Our effort and energy was amazing,” Neubauer said. “There is a lot of parity in the Hawkeye 10 this year, where there will be a lot of games like this. It should make for some exciting basketball.”

Fortunately for the Panthers, this matchup does not count as a conference game. The conference meet up will be in their Jan. 26 rematch at home.

Creston returns to action tonight at Shenandoah. This will also not count as a conference game.

CRESTON (51) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 19 6-12 51. Kadley Bailey 11 2-4 28, Brynn Tussey 3 0-0 7, Ella Turner 1 3-6 6, Hollynn Rieck 2 1-2 6, Braylee Pokorny 2 0-0 4. FG shooting — 19/45 (42.2 percent). 3-point goals — 7/16 (43.8 percent) (Bailey 4, Rieck 1, B. Tussey 1). Rebounds — 33 (Rieck 11, Turner 8, B. Tussey 6, Bailey 3, Pokorny 3, Jensan Tussey 2). Assists — 14 (Rieck 6, Turner 3, B. Tussey 2, J. Tussey 2, Pokorny 1). Steals — 6 (Rieck 2, Turner 2, Bailey 1, Pokorny 1) Blocked shots — 1 (Rieck). Turnovers — 14. Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — J. Tussey.

ATLANTIC (54) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 19 10-16 54. Zoey Kirchhoff 5 3-4 16, Makenna Schroeder 4 2-4 12, Katrina Williams 4 3-6 11, Brynn Lamp 3 0-0 6, Peyton McLaren 2 0-0 4, Jilliam Saathoff 1 0-0 3, Madison McLaren 0 2-2 2. 3-point goals — 6 (Zirchhoff 3, Schroeder 2, Saathoff 1). Team fouls — 12. Fouled out — None.