Second-quarter burst lifts Winterset girls

WINTERSET — Winterset girls rode the wave of a big second-quarter run to open the season with a 57-34 win over Creston Monday night.

The Huskies drained three of their 11 3-pointers in the first quarter to take an 11-7 lead, but Creston rallied early in the second to take a 14-11 lead on a Hollynn Rieck layup. Winterset senior Alyvia Young tied it 14-14 with another 3-pointer and that triggered an 18-2 run to finish the half in front 32-16. Kadley Bailey’s short jumper was the only Panther scoring in the final five minutes of the period.

The Huskies pushed it to a 22-point spread by the end of the third quarter with three more 3-pointers. Creston was outscored 33-9 from behind the arc. Kadley Bailey led the Panthers with 14 points, six steals and five rebounds. The Panthers were cold from the field, shooting 24.1% (14-58) and 3-16 from 3-point range.

Sophomore Makenna Olson made five of Winterset’s 11 3-pointers in finishing with 17 points.

“We have to finish shots,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer. “We were up 2-0 early and it should have been 8-0. We shot 9-of-27 from within 5 feet. Our defense was good again and rebounding was better, but it still needs work. We gave up 16 second-chance points.”

The Panther coach said the Huskies presented a matchup problem for his team, but ultimately he switched to a man-to-man defense when the Huskies stayed hot from 3-point range. Winterset also owned a 41-27 rebounding advantage.

“They shot the ball well,” Neubauer said. “They’re a tough matchup for us because we can’t really handle them in man, but at the same time they had three or four girls hitting shots so we had to eventually. I could have taken a timeout there in the second quarter, but we have to learn how to handle adversity better and just buckle down and play through stuff. Our best offense comes from our best defense, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

The Panthers, now 2-2, are idle until hosting St. Albert next Tuesday in a girl-boy doubleheader to open Hawkeye Ten Conference play.

“I told the girls this game doesn’t bother me as much as Panorama,” Neubauer said. “We let that one get away. We’ve been busy early, but now we have some time to regroup a little bit, plus some of our girls have state dance this week. That’s a good team we played tonight. You take away those four minutes of the second quarter and we played them pretty even, but that’s not how the game works. I’m not discouraged. The good thing is, it’s December second. We’ll work on putting the ball in the basket a little more consistently.”

CRESTON (34) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 13 3-4 34. Kadley Bailey 7 0-0 14, Brynn Tussey 2 0-0 5, Ella Turner 1 2-2 4, Adyson Morrison 1 0-0 3, Hollynn Rieck 2 1-2 5, Reese Strunk 1 0-0 3. FG shooting — 14-58 (24.1 percent). 3-point goals — 3-16 (Morrison 1, B. Tussey 1, Strunk). Rebounds — 27 (Bailey 5, B. Tussey 5, Morrison 4, Rieck 4, Turner 4). Assists — 8 (Turner 3, Bailey 2). Steals — 13 (Bailey 6, Turner 2, B. Tussey 2). Blocked shots — 2 (Rieck 1, B. Tussey 1). Turnovers — 13. Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.

WINTERSET (57) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 21 4-10 57. Makenna Olson 6 0-0 17, Brynn Acton 5 0-2 12, Ashlynn Devine 3 0-2 7, Natalie Smith 2 3-4 7, Abby Hoefing 2 1-2 5, Klaire Seidler 1 0-0 3, Alyvia Young 2 0-0 5. FG shooting — 21-57 (36.8 percent). 3-point goals — 11-24 (Olson 5, Devine 2, Acton 2, Young 1, Seidler 1). Steals — 12 (Devine 3, Olson 3). Rebounds — 41 (Smith 11, Devine 8, Hoefing 5). Turnovers — 17. Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — none.