Panther defense throttles Clarke, 58-46

Creston girls survived their first regional test without leading scorer Kadley Bailey, using a swarming defense and balanced scoring to defeat Clarke Saturday night, 58-46.

Unlike the earlier overtime win over the Indians in the regular season, this time the Panthers limited Clarke to two 3-pointers while making seven on their end — including three by sophomore Marlee Stalker, who provided 11 first-half points. Ella Turner, one of five seniors appearing in the home gym for the final time, led the Panthers with 17 points. Turner made 11 of 12 free throws in the win.

Four other Panthers scored between five and nine points as the fast-paced offense was geared to make up for Bailey’s 21 points per game. Bailey suffered an ankle injury on Feb. 9 against Kuemper Catholic and her status for future postseason action is still uncertain.

Creston (11-11) travels to No. 6-ranked Prairie City-Monroe (21-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 3A Region 6 semifinals. The other semifinal has No. 8-ranked Mediapolis (22-0) hosting Davis County (16-6). Regional finals are played Feb. 21.

Stalker entered the lineup midway through the first quarter Saturday and immediately injected an offensive spark, hitting three 3-pointers and a short jumper for all of her 11 points before the quarter ended with Creston in front, 22-17.

“Marlee was absolutely huge in the first half,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “In our shootaround on Friday she didn’t miss. She didn’t shoot in the second half, but we had a lot of kids step up tonight.”

Point guard Hollynn Rieck said the team was determined to win in their final appearance on their home court, despite the loss of their statistical leader. She was one of several seniors showing tears as they walked off the home court for the final time.

“They’re happy tears that we won, but also sad tears that this is the last game we get to play together at home,” Rieck said. “Deep down we all had a lot of personal pressure on ourselves to win this last game here, but before the game we said we just need to calm down and play our game. We just said we need to stay calm and do what we know how to do.”

A strategic defensive change was critical in the outcome, Rieck noted.

“The first time we played them we played a 1-3-1 zone defense and they just got a lot of open three looks and they were making them,” Rieck said. “We knew we had to change our defense and put a little ball pressure on them, make them make a few more turnovers. This might be the first game all year we played man to man defense most of the game, and more pressure.”

Neubauer said the Panthers did a better job of containing junior Reagan Fry and freshman Libby Winter. Fry had 24 points and Winter made five 3-pointers in the Feb. 2 game won by Creston, 64-59, in overtime.

“They made two 3-pointers tonight, which was better,” Neubauer said. “There are a lot of teams that we can’t play man against, but we were effective with it tonight. I thought Braylee did a good job on Fry, and Jensan (Tussey) did a good job on Winter. We had big 3-pointers from Brynn, Ella and Jensan in the second half and two huge three-point plays by Hollynn and Braylee in the fourth quarter.”

With Creston ahead 44-38 midway through the fourth quarter, Rieck was fouled while making a basket on a drive and added a free throw to make it 47-38. Moment later, Rieck had the assist to Pokorny for a close-range basket, and Pokorny added the foul shot to open a 12-point gap at 50-38. Pokorny had a team-high 13 rebounds in the game.

Turner had eight rebounds and went 11-of-12 at the free throw line. She also made a pair of 3-pointers for her team-leading 17 points.

With Bailey’s status uncertain and PCM having only one loss this season (65-29 to Carlisle on Nov. 25), Neubauer knows the task ahead is enormous. But, he said tough competition is nothing new for this team. Creston finished in a seventh-place tie with Harlan and Lewis Central in the Hawkeye Ten at 4-6. St. Albert was league champion at 10-0 and Kuemper Catholic went 9-1.

“Our last home tournament game was 2022 and I was happy for our seniors tonight,” Neubauer said. “We have kids who can make plays, and we’ve been in so many dogfights. I think we’ve had seven one-possession games this season. This was our 11th win tonight. We’ve won 11 or more five times in the past eight years, and only nine times in program history. Selfishly, I’m excited that I get a few more days with this crew and our seniors.”

CLARKE (46) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 15 14-16 46. Reese Shaw 6 4-4 16, Reagan Fry 3 7-7 13, Emilee Boyd 3 1-3 8, Miah Graves 2 2-2 6, LIbby Winter 1 0-0 3. FG shooting — 15-45 (33.3 percent). 3-point goals — 2-12 (Winter 1, Boyd 1). Steals — 9 (Fry 5, Graves 2). Rebounds — 34 (Fry 11, Shaw 9, Graves 7). Turnovers — 23. Team fouls — 16. Fouled out — Fry.

CRESTON (58) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 18 15-22 58. Ella Turner 2 11-12 17, Marlee Stalker 4 0-0 11, Hollynn Rieck 3 3-7 9, Brynn Tussey 4 0-0 9, Jensan Tussey 3 0-2 7, Braylee Pokorny 2 1-1 5. FG shooting — 18-55 (32.7 percent). 3-point goals — 7-22 (Stalker 3, Turner 2, J. Tussey 1, B. Tussey 1). Rebounds — 34 (Pokorny 13, Turner 8, Rieck 6, B. Tussey 4). Assists — 12 (Rieck 7, J. Tussey 3, Turner 2). Steals — 10 (J. Tussey 3, turner 3, Rieck 3). Blocked shots — 7 (Rieck 3, Pokorny 2, Turner 1, J. Tussey 1). Turnovers — 13. Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.