Glenwood girls top Panthers

The opening four minutes foretold the home loss by Creston’s girls to a Glenwood team that came in Friday with one previous victory.

On the game’s first possession, Creston’s Kadley Bailey was disruptive at the top of an effective Panther halfcourt zone defense, with a steal leading to an apparent fast break. In fact, Glenwood turned it over on its first three possessions that led to exactly zero Creston points on the other end.

Finally, Ella Turner hit a shot in the lane and Bailey sank two free throws for a 4-0 lead with two minutes elapsed. Then, suddenly the Rams were ahead 6-4 as sophomore guard Maggie McChesney made back-to-back 3-pointers.

That was a sign of things to come for McChesney, who scored a game-high 21 points including five 3-pointers in Glenwood’s 49-40 victory. Teammate Maggie Smith added four 3-pointers as the Rams outscored Creston 33-0 from behind the arc.

Glenwood improved to 2-4 overall. Creston fell to 2-5 and stays 0-1 in the Hawkeye Ten as their second meeting in Glenwood will be the official conference game. Junior guard Kadley Bailey led the Panthers with 20 points.

“To start the game we were up 4-0 but we missed three or four runouts,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “We didn’t turn turnovers into points. We put those in and it’s 8-0 or 10-0 and a different type of game. We didn’t make a three, and I think five or six of their 11 threes were second-chances. We have to rebound better.”

Creston’s offense was cold from the field in the second quarter as the Rams moved to an 11-point halftime lead (26-15), thanks to two consecutive 3-pointers by Smith and another by 5-11 center Haylee Hughes to close the quarter.

After Glenwood briefly pushed it to a 13-point margin at 30-17, the Panthers put together their best stretch of the game to shave it to four at 36-32.

Glenwood appeared to open the door further for a comeback by putting the Panthers into the free throw bonus just three minutes into the fourth quarter. But, Creston went 1-4 at the line after the next two fouls to miss a chance to score in bunches with the clock stopped.

Right after Ella Turner’s steal and layup to keep it at four points (43-39) with 1:42 left, McChesney squashed that momentum with two straight 3-pointers to make it 49-39 in the final minute.

Neubauer said numbers tell the story. Glenwood had 30 turnovers to Creston’s 23, but the Panthers shot only 27% from the field (15-54) and missed all nine 3-point attempts. Creston made 10 of 22 free throws and was outrebounded 50-36. Glenwood hit at a 30.6% rate on 3-pointers, sinking 11 of 36.

“They were under 25% on threes for the season,” Neubauer said. “They made shots, and probably five or six of those three were on second chances. Our zone was creating turnovers, but we weren’t rebounding. When you’re shorter like we are, you can’t just turn and look. You have to be fundamentally sound to rebound the ball.”

Ella Turner was Creston’s leading rebounder with 10 in a double-double night, scoring 11 points. Bailey, Turner and Rieck combined for 12 steals. Rieck directed several successful fast breaks with eight assists.

McChesney had a productive overall game for Glenwood with 17 rebounds and eight steals to go with her game-high 21 points.

Saturday loss

Cold shooting hampered Creston again Saturday afternoon in a 54-31 loss to Green City, Mo., at the 12 Courts of Christmas event held at HyVee Arena in Kansas City. Assistant Scott Wagner directed the Panthers as Neubauer was attending to family medical issues.

“It’s tough to win basketball games shooting 25 percent,” Neubauer sad. “The good thing is there is a lot of basketball left. We’re taking a few days off to recharge and enjoy Christmas, then back at it for the second half of our season.”

Bailey tallied 21 points with a team-high five steals for Creston and Hollynn Rieck added five points and four assists. Brynn Tussey grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Bailey and Rieck reached career milestones over the weekend. Bailey reached 500 career points, now ranking 13th on the all-time scoring list as a junior. She also moved into ninth place all-time in steals with 126. Rieck, also a junior, collected her 150th career assist, which ranks seventh all-time.

Glenwood 49, Creston 40

CRESTON (40) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 15 10-22 40. Kadley Bailey 7 6-9 20, Ella Turner 4 3-3 11, Brynn Tussey 1 1-4 3, Hollynn Rieck 1 0-2 2, Braylee Pokorny 1 0-2 2, Adyson Morrison 1 0-0 2. FG shooting — 15-54 (27.4 percent). 3-point goals — 0-9. Rebounds — 36 (Turner 10, Adamson 6, Rieck 6, Morrison 5, Pokorny 4). Assists — 11 (Rieck 8, Turner 2). Steals — 16 (Bailey 5, Turner 4, Rieck 3, Adamson 2). Turnovers — 23. Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — None.

GLENWOOD (49) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 17 4-7 49. Maggie McChesney 8 0-0 21, Maggie Smith 5 0-0 14, Malynn Johnson 1 4-4 6, Heylee Hughes 2 0-3 5, Mya Donscheski 1 0-0 3. FG shooting — 17-62 (27.4 percent). 3-point goals — 11-36 (McChesney 5, Smith 4, H. Hughes 1, Donscheid 1). Steals — 18 (McChesney 8 Johnson 4). Rebounds — 50 (McChesney 17, Smith 12, H. Hughes 11). Turnovers — 30. Team fouls — 21. Fouled out — none.

Green River Mo. 54, Creston 31

CRESTON (31) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 14 2-6 31. Kadley Bailey 10 0-0 21, Hollynn Rieck 2 1-4 5, Ella Turner 1 0-0 2, Brynn Tussey 1 0-0 2, Braylee Pokorny 0 1-2 1. FG shooting — 14-56 (25.0 percent). 3-point goals — 1-8 (Bailey 1). Rebounds — 25 (B. Tussey 7, Bailey 4, Pokorny 4, Turner 3, Adamson 3). Assists — 8 (Rieck 4). Steals — 11 (Bailey 5, Rieck 2, B. Tussey 2). Blocked shots — 1 (Adamson 1). Turnovers — 16. Team fouls — 10. Fouled out — None.

GREEN RIVER (54).