Panther girls compete after rough start

It was one of those games where the losing coach comes away feeling more upbeat than the victorious coach.

That’s because after getting knocked down early, David stood toe-to-toe with Goliath.

Harlan’s undefeated and No. 1-ranked girls bolted to a 10-0 lead in the opening minutes, and then outscored Creston by only five points for the next 30 minutes before finishing with a 53-34 victory here Tuesday in a girl-boy varsity doubleheader.

With 2:20 to play, Harlan held a 48-33 lead. Two free throws and a late 3-pointer helped the Cyclones boost the final margin to 19 points.

This is a Harlan team with all but one player back from a 26-0 state championship team, featuring 6-3 center Jess Schaben and 6-1 post partner Taylor Frederick, along with 3-point shooters Taylor Wagner, Jordyn Moser and Allison Bruck.

The Cyclones (4-0) began the season by edging Class 5A top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling, 51-48, before dismantling Shenandoah 53-37 and Denison-Schleswig 74-17. So, with a 10-0 early lead, all indications were that this was another rout in the making.

But, despite leading scorer Natalie Mostek being constantly face-guarded and scoreless until 6:13 remained in the game, the Panthers kept the margin in the 15-point range for the bulk of the game. It was 31-15 at halftime and 40-21 after three periods.

Cammy Rutherford’s basket and free throw, followed by a Taylor Briley steal and a Panther free throw cut it to 48-33. Rutherford finished with 10 points and Jenna Taylor had 11.

There was a lot that left Creston coach Brent Douma encouraged after the struggles of the first four minutes. Creston was outscored only 9-6 in the third period and played evenly at 13-13 in the fourth.

"If that's the best team in the state, regardless of class, then we're not that far away," Douma said. "From here on out, there's really not a team that we shouldn't go in every night believing that we should win. I mean, we didn't play great tonight. If we had, who knows?"

Douma was especially pleased with how his undersized players battled with Schaben, an Iowa State volleyball recruit, and Frederick.

“Cammy gave us 10 points and eight rebounds against two all-staters,” Douma said. “She went toe-to-toe with the best and played good. It was 50-34 near the end of the game, If you had told me we would hold them to 50 before the game, I’d feel pretty good about that.”

Harlan coach Zach Klaasen was disappointed his team didn’t build on the early 10-0 lead with more tenacity.

“We started off OK, and it we still felt pretty good at halftime,” Klaassen said. “Then I don’t know if we thought they were going to roll over for us or what, but they came out with a little energy. Jenna Taylor came out and hit that 3-pointer to start the third quarter. We just looked like we were a step slow defensively.”

Creston, for the most part, held its own under the boards except for some weakside putbacks by Frederick on the few times Schaben missed after receiving a lob pass over the defense. Mostek had a team-high 13 rebounds.

“Some of those plays we had defended, but they’re throwing it up to an All-American volleyball player and there’s not much we can do,” Douma said.

“Creston played well,” Klaasen said. “They were very physical. I don’t know if we weren’t expecting that, or just not ready for it. The physicality is different for them. We were getting pushed off the block quite a bit, then we were fading away on our shots.”

Stifling defense

The saving grace, Klaassen said, was his team’s ability to limit the scoring output of Mostek and Taylor, although Taylor did reach double figures with an inside bucket with 5:04 to go to make it 43-27.

“For the most part our defensive plan worked pretty well,” Klaassen said. “Between the two of them, they were averaging 33 points a game and we held them to 13, so we’ll take that.”

Elle Kloewer and Mikayla Evers took turns stalking Mostek wherever she went, working to deny entry passes to her.

“Our plan was, if we’re going to lose, it’s going to be by somebody else beating us, not her,” Klaassen said. “We face-guarded her and everybody else went man. We switched on every screen up top. We got caught up a couple times doubling the ball and (Taylor) Briley snuck in for a couple 15-foot jumpers, but I was happy for the most part with the defense.”

Briley ended with eight points for the Panthers, who fell to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the Hawkeye 10.

Douma said his team was playing hesitant in falling behind 10-0.

“I think we’re still trying to get to that point where we really feel we belong on the floor in these types of games,” the Panther coach said. “We were a little nervous maybe at the start. Then all of a sudden we settled down and started playing. We got some shots that we normally hit, or we could have gotten even closer.”

Douma hopes for the same type of effort Friday at home against another rated team, Class 3A eighth-ranked Carroll Kuemper Catholic. The Knights lost to Class 4A fifth-ranked Sioux City Bishop Heelan Monday night, 50-38. But Kuemper was coming off a key league victory over Lewis Central on Friday, 50-44.

In other conference results Tuesday, Lewis Central rolled past Shenandoah 48-33, Clarinda beat St. Albert 58-52, Red Oak swamped Denison-Schleswig 52-37 and Glenwood routed Atlantic 69-38.

HARLAN (53) — Jess Schaben 5 3-4 13, Taylor Frederick 6 1-2 13, Taylor Wagner 4 0-0 10, Jordyn Moser 1 1-2 4, Emma Ahrenholtz 1 0-0 3, Elle Kloewer 0 1-2 1. Totals — 19 10-15 53. 3-point goals — 5 (Wagner 2, Moser 1, Ahrenholtz 1). Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — none.

CRESTON (34) — Jenna Taylor 4 2-2 11, Cammy Rutherford 4 2-3 10, Taylor Briley 3 2-6 8, Brenna Baker 1 0-0 3, Natalie Mostek 1 0-0 2. Totals — 13 6-11 34. 3-point goals — 2 (Baker 1, Taylor 1). Rebounds — 34 (Mostek 13, Rutherford 8, Taylor 8, Briley 3). Assists — 5 (Baker 3). Steals — 6 (Mostek 3, Briley 1, Baker 1, Rutherford 1). Turnovers — 10. Team fouls — 13. Fouled out — None.

Harlan — 15 31 40 53

Creston — 5 15 21 34

JUNIOR VARSITY

After an 11-10 first quarter, the Harlan JV girls pulled away to a 54-30 victory over Creston Tuesday night.

Junior Emma Ahrenholtz led Harlan with 14 points. Madison Callahan led Creston eight points and Caitlin McIlravy scored seven, including a 3-pointer. Creston trailed only 26-19 at halftime, but Harlan sealed it with a 14-2 third quarter.

“We have to become better in attacking when girls are playing aggressive man-to-man against us,” coach Ryan McKim said. “In the third quarter Harlan came out and played very well.”

The Cyclones finished with seven 3-pointers made, including three by freshman Nicole Lange.

Creston (30) — Madison Callahan 8, Caitlin McIlravy 7, Lexie Little 5, Logan Pettit 3, Alli Thomsen 2, Becca Ross 2, Rachel Shepherd 1. 3-point goals — Maitlen 1. Free throws — 11-18. Halftime score — Harlan 26, Creston 19.

Harlan (54) — Emma Ahrenholtz 14, Lexi Hoffman 8, Allison Bruck 7, Clare Klein 7, Bailey Hansen 4, Lexie Holloway 3, Maggie Langenfeld 3. 3-point goals — Lange 9, Langenfeld 1, Holloway 1, Klein 1, Bruck 1. Free throws — 9-16.

FRESHMEN

Harlan prevailed in the girls freshman game Tuesday at Creston, 47-21.

Chloe Hagle and Cayla Maitlen led Creston with six points each.

“It was a tale of two halves,” said Creston coach Anthony Donahoo. “We were down 39-9 at the half. Then we did a much better job with their height, blocking out, and getting our posts involved in the second half and it showed with a 12-9 second half.”

Creston (21) — Chloe Hagle 6, Cayla Maitlen 6, Taylor Fredrickson 5, Bre Wallace 2, Sophia Groumoutis 2. Halftime score — Harlan 39, Creston 9.

Harlan (47).