Wolverines break away early

Nodaway Valley girls rebounded from a 67-42 loss to Class 3A ninth-ranked Solon in a big way with a 68-47 victory Friday at Creston.

The Wolverines (2-1) bolted to a 9-0 lead in the opening three minutes before Nevaeh Randall scored on Jacy Kralik’s assist at the 5:07 mark of the first period.

Nodaway Valley junior Lindsey Davis scored a 3-pointer, a fast break layup and threw ahead to teammate Annika Nelson for another transition layup during that early run. Davis went on to score 31 points along with six assists and four steals.

At halftime Nodaway Valley had

built a 37-21 lead, with Davis providing 16 points. Randall had seven of her nine points at the break as senior Doryn Paup, averaging 11.3 per game, was limited to two points in the opening 16 minutes. Paup finished with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds.

“We cut it to six a couple of times. We’re just not very consistent yet,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer. said. “We’ve played three good teams and we have three more next week. We just have to get better on some stuff. Nodaway Valley won 20 games last year and three of their top four are back. Davis is a good ballplayer. We only had three seniors last year, but they had big roles.”

It was not a good shooting night for either team overall. Everyone not named Lindsey Davis combined to shoot 3-of-32 from behind the 3-point arc. Davis was 3-9 on triples. Creston ended up 1-15 as Ava Adamson banked in the only make late in the game.

Overall, Creston shot 30% from the field and had 25 turnovers. Nodaway Valley shot 44.6% and ended with 20 turnovers. For the most part, Creston negated any issues with the Wolverines’ fullcourt press by coming up with 12 steals of their own (led by {Paup and Ella Turner with three each).

“They’d have some runs and we’d have some runs,” Nodaway Valley coach Brian Eisbach said. “We had a talk between the first and second quarters and said we needed to play our game and be more aggressive. Paup lit us up for 35 last year and she had 14 tonight. I thought Bella Hogan and Jorja Holliday focused on limiting her touches, especially at the high post where she’s so good at finding the back cut for the dump down. She’s a good player.”

Nelson had a good overall performance for the Wolverines with 14 points, four steals and five rebounds. Holliday grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds along with three blocked shots.

Creston is still searching for consistent scoring options behind Paup, but Randall had her best game of the season with nine points and four rebounds. Kralik finished with five points, five rebounds and three assists. Freshmen are helping the varsity this season, and Turner had her best outing to date with seven rebounds, three steals and six points. Kralik and Keely Coen had three assists each.

Nodaway Valley opens Pride of Iowa Conference play at home Tuesday against Southwest Valley. Creston has a busy homestand this week, starting with Class 4A 12th-ranked Carlisle tonight, St. Albert Catholic Tuesday and Atlantic on Friday. Both the Thursday and Friday games are 6 p.m. tipoffs preceding the boys matchups.

Carlisle (2-1) lost to Class 4A No. 5 North Polk, 73-63, and owns victories over Nevada (50-31) and Class 3A 12th-ranked Des Moines Christian (70-53). Creston opened the season in a 64-30 loss to Des Moines Christian.

Creston won Friday’s JV game, 41-22, as Adamson scored 12 points and Brynn Tuseey added eight. Mylee Comstock had 14 for the Wolverines.

NODAWAY VALLEY (68) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 29 5-12 68. Lindsey Davis 7 4-9 31, Annika Nelson 7 0-0 14, Izzy Eisbach 5 0-2 11, Jorja Holliday 3 1-2 7, Bella Hogan 2 0-0 5. 3-point goals — 5 (Davis 3, Eisbach 1, Hogan 1). Rebounds — 42 (Holliday 15, Hogan 6). Assists — 19 (Davis 6, Eisbach 5, Hogan 4). Steals — 16 (Davis 4, Nelson 4, Eisbach 3, Holliday 3). Blocks — 11 (Holliday 3, Hogan 3). Turnovers — 20. Team fouls — 13. Fouled out — none.

CRESTON (47) — (FG FT PTS) Totals — 19 8-12 47. Doryn Paup 6 2-4 14, Nevaeh Randall 4 1-1 9, Ella Turner 2 2-3 6, Jacy Kralik 1 3-4 5, Keeley Coen 2 0-0 4, Ava Adamson 1 0-0 3, Kadley Bailey 1 0-0 2, Hollyn Rieck 1 0-0 2, Aleah Calvin 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 1 (Adamson 1). Rebounds — 37 (Paup 7, Turner 7, Calvin 5, Kralik 5). Assists — 11 (Coen 3, Kralik 3, Turner 2, Rieck 2). Steals — 12 (Paup 3, Turner 3, Randall 2). Blocked shots — 4 (Paup 3, Bailey 1). Turnovers — 25. Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.