History made in Panther weekend sweep

It was both a historic and successful weekend for the Creston girls basketball team.

Senior Jenna Taylor surpassed 2007 graduate Katie McKim as the program’s all-time five-player career scorer as the Panthers completed a Page County sweep of Shenandoah and Essex Friday and Saturday.

Creston, now 9-6 overall, improved to 4-4 in Hawkeye 10 play with a solid defensive effort Friday in a 45-37 victory at Shenandoah, avenging an earlier 43-31 loss in Creston.

One night later the Creston school bus took much the same path on a trip to Essex, a Corner Conference team that was 15-1 before suffering a 58-44 nonconference loss to the Panthers after falling behind 27-10.

Taylor had a team-high 14 points and eight rebounds in Friday’s victory to move within four points of McKim’s career total of 856 points. (See related chart). Leanne Owens, now third on the career list, holds the single-season record of 457 points.

With seven minutes left in the second quarter Saturday at Essex, Taylor took a pass from Camryn Somers on the right wing, and made a power move to the basket for a short bank shot to give Creston a 25-7 lead.

Those two points pushed Taylor ahead of McKim, and she would finish with eight points for a new leading total of 860 points.

“That just shows what hard work can do,” said Creston coach Brent Douma. “She made herself into that kind of a basketball player by spending hours in the gym. It’s a fantastic honor for her to pass Katie McKim. The message going forward to our girls is, there’s what hard work can do for you.”

Taylor said she appreciated the ovation she received from teammates while running upcourt after scoring the record-breaking basket. She also recalled watching McKim play as a youth, dreaming of being a varsity player like the former Panther sharpshooter who went on to play at Central College. Katie McKim is the younger sister of Panther assistant coach Ryan McKim.

“I remember in second and third grades, going to their games, and I always looked up to her,” Taylor said. “It’s definitely pretty awesome to be mentioned in the same sentence with her. She texted me (Sunday) and told me congratulations. That’s pretty sweet.”

Turnaround

Hard work was also the theme of Creston’s conference victory Friday at Shenandoah, when the Fillies still had only 26 points with two minutes to play. Shenandoah, now 10-7 overall and behind the Panthers at 3-5 in the league, had been led by freshman Logan Hughes with 18 points and junior Logan Ehlers with 13 in the earlier win at Creston.

Points came at more of a premium against the active Panther zone on Friday. Hughes and Ehlers had eight points each, as the team leader was McKaya O’Neil with 16.

“We really played well,” Douma said. “Defensively we were solid all night. We had stats you like to see — only nine fouls on the night, yet we played aggressively with 16 steals, and they only shot three free throws. They only had 19 points going into the fourth quarter. And they’re a pretty good team!”

The offense had balanced scoring Friday as well as Saturday, led by Taylor’s 14 points with nine each by Taylor Briley and Brielle Baker.

Rapid start

On Saturday, the Panthers were hot from the field from the start. Camryn Somers had six points as Creston moved to a 10-0 lead before Essex got on the board at the 4:22 mark of the first period on two free throws by Jescenia Mosley.

Creston was in front 21-7 after one quarter against a Trojanette team that had only lost to Bill Huntington’s Sidney team in the finals of the Corner Conference Tournament. The margin reached 20 points at 27-7 on a fast break layup by Somers with 6:30 left in the first half.

From that point, Class 1A Essex outscored the Class 4A Panthers 37-31.

“We talked at halftime, and I told the girls they gave them a 16-point head start,” said Essex coach Jay Soderberg. “Now we have to try to battle back out of that hole. It was nerves. They shot the ball really well early.”

Somers finished with 15 points, Baker made four 3-pointers in scoring 14, Briley was 6-of-6 at the line in netting 10 points and both Taylor and Rutherford finished with eight. Taylor hauled in 16 rebounds and Briley dished out seven assists.

“We came out good in the first quarter. Camryn was hitting some shots and we were aggressive defensively,” Douma said. “Offensively we were active as well. In the second quarter we slowed down a little bit, and we weren’t getting as much movement offensively. In the second half I thought we kind of played not to lose. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds. But we got a win, and after a long day at the (Creston) kids tournament, we’ll take it.”

Pending weather developments, this is a busy week for the Creston girls with home games Tuesday against Glenwood, Thursday against Clarinda and Friday in a girl-boy doubleheader vs. Red Oak before traveling to Atlantic on Saturday.

Friday’s games

SHENANDOAH (37) — McKaya O’Neil 6 1-2 16, Logan Hughes 3 0-0 8, Logan Ehlers 3 0-1 8, Jaslynn Parker 1 0-0 3, Jessica Jackson 1 0-0 2. Totals — 14 1-3 37. 3-point goals — 8 (O’Neil 3, Hughes 2, Ehlers 2, Parker 1.). Turnovers — 14. Team fouls — 13. Fouled out — O’Neil, Ehlers.

CRESTON (45) — Jenna Taylor 6 2-2 14, Taylor Briley 2 4-6 9, Brielle Baker 3 2-4 9, Cammy Rutherford 2 2-2 6, Camryn Somers 2 1-2 5, Lexie Little 1 0-0 2. Totals — 16 11-16 45. FG shooting — 16-46 (34.8 percent). 3-point goals — 2-8 (Briley 1, Baker 1). Rebounds — 32 (Taylor 8, Somers 6, Little 5, Rutherford 4, Baker 4, Briley 4). Assists — 15 (Somers 8, Briley 4). Steals — 16 (Rutherford 5, Briley 3, Little 2, Baker 2, Somers 2). Blocked shots — 3 (Briley 2, Rutherford 1). Turnovers — 12. Team fouls — 9. Fouled out — None.

Shenandoah — 3 14 19 37

Creston — 10 23 33 45

JUNIOR VARSITY

Creston went on a 27-0 run in the second half to break open a close game and defeat the Shenandoah JV girls Friday, 49-24.

Breanna Wallace scored 14 points for Creston and Madison Callahan added nine.

“Definitely a tale of two halves for us tonight,” Creston coach Ryan McKim said. “We played poorly in the first half, especially offensively. In the second half we played with aggressiveness, got some ball movement and knocked down some shots.”

Creston (49) — Breanna Wallace 14, Madison Callahan 9, Logan Pettit 6, Saige Rice 5, Megan Haley 4, Breanna Ross 4, Taylor Buxton 3, Cayla Maitlen 2, Jesse Vicker 2. Halftime score — Creston 18, Shenandoah 14.

Shenandoah (24).

Saturday’s games

ESSEX (44) — Daiton Martin 6 0-0 16, Sayj Martin 6 0-1 12, Jescenia Mosley 3 5-5 11, Bethany Johnson 2 1-2 5. Totals — 17 6-8 44. 3-point goals — 4 (D. Martin 4). Turnovers — 11. Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — S. Martin.

CRESTON (58) — Camryn Somers 6 2-2 15, Brielle Baker 5 0-2 14, Taylor Briley 2 6-6 10, Jenna Taylor 4 0-0 8, Cammy Rutherford 3 2-4 8, Lexie Little 1 1-2 3. Totals — 21 11-16 58. FG shooting — 21-53 (39.6 percent). 3-point goals — 5-13 (Baker 4, Somers 1). Rebounds — 31 (Taylor 16, Little 5, Rutherford 3, Somers 3, Briley 3). Assists — 14 (Briley 7, Little 2, Baker 2, Somers 2). Steals — 11 (Briley 2, Baker 2, Somers 2). Blocked shots — 1 (Blocks 1). Turnovers — 12. Team fouls — 10. Fouled out — None.

Essex — 7 17 32 44

Creston — 21 34 49 58

JUNIOR VARSITY

Creston dominated Saturday’s junior varsity action at Essex, taking a 29-4 halftime lead on the way to a 49-5 victory.

Ten different Creston players scored, led by Taylor Buxton’s 12 points.

“We played well and took care of business,” said Creston coach Ryan McKim. “We will have a good test on Tuesday with Glenwood’s JV.”

Creston (49) — Taylor Buxton 12, Madison Callahan 7, Saige Rice 6, Jesse Vicker 6, Megan Haley 4, Logan Pettit 3, Grace Root 3, Breanna Wallace 2, Cayla Maitlen 2, Stephanie Hemsworth 1. 3-point goals — Callahan 1, Root 1. Free throws — 7-13. Team fouls — 19. Halftime score — Creston 29, Essex 4.

Essex (5) — Anna Carlson 2, Averle Hascall 2, Jorianna Mosley 1. 3-point goals — None. Free throws — 1-4. Team fouls — 11.