Panther girls swarm Shenandoah, 56-23

The Creston girls stayed with their recent winning formula of strong starts in racing out to an 18-2 lead before sailing to a 56-23 home victory Tuesday over Shenandoah.

In their four previous games, the Panthers (6-1) had outscored four opponents 63-14 during first-quarter action. Creston’s swarming 1-3-1 defense created numerous early Shenandoah turnovers in taking a 16-0 lead before the Fillies finally got on the board on Allyah Parker’s inside bucket with 11 seconds left in the opening period.

Shenandoah (3-3) didn’t score again until the 2:20 mark of the second quarter, and by then the Panthers were cruising to a 26-4 lead. The halftime margin was 33-8.

“Defensively, we set the tone in the first half,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “We did a good job of taking away the baseline, and we extended our 1-3-1 a little to use our athleticism in getting more steals.”

Creston had good scoring balance in countering Shenandoah’s box-and-one defense designed to limit senior 6-2 post player Kelsey Fields, who entered the game averaging 23 points and 15.2 rebounds. Kelsey Fields led the Panthers with 14 points, but her production was followed closely by three others in double figures.

Sam Dunphy dropped in 13 points, Rylie Driskell scored 12, Bri Fields tallied 10 points and reserve Doryn Paup added six.

“It’s hard for teams when they try to take away Kelsey, because Sam has matured as a player and is very effective,” Neubauer said. “I thought Rylie Driskell looked for her shot more tonight. Our kids do a great job of making the extra pass in transition, but our halfcourt offense got a little stuck on the right side tonight. We’ll have to work on that.”

With senior guard Braelyn Baker out of action with a knee injury requiring surgery, Rylie Driskell and Gracie Hagle have stepped into the role of running the offense out front, while Paup can spell either Fields sister in the post positions.

“We used to joke with Rylie in practice that she’s our emergency point guard, and our emergency is here now,” Neubauer said. “Gracie is coming along and giving us some minutes. We have good kids. Obviously, our competition level steps up now, but we’re excited to see where we’re at.”

UP NEXT — The Panthers, ranked No. 12 in Class 4A, travel to No. 1 ranked Glenwood Friday before hosting No. 11 Dallas-Center Grimes on Tuesday. DC-G is coming off a 20-point win over 3A top-ranked Des Moines Christian.

Creston 56, Shenandoah 23

Shen (23) — 2 6 6 9

Creston (56) — 18 15 17 6

SHENANDOAH (23) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 10 0-4 23. Reese Spiegel 4 0-0 11, Allie Eveland 2 0-0 4, Ava Wolf 2 0-4 4, Allie Eveland 1 0-0 2, Allyah Parker 1 0-0 2 3-point goals — 3 (Spiegel 3). Team fouls — 8. Fouled out — none.

CRESTON (56) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 21 11-15 56. Kelsey Fields 7 0-0 14, Sam Dunphy 5 3-5 13, Rylie Driskell 4 2-2 12, Bri Fields 2 5-6 10, Doryn Paup 3 0-0 6, Morgan Driskell 0 1-2 1. 3-point goals — 3 (R. Driskell 2, B. Fields 1). Team fouls — 9. Fouled out — None.