Panther comeback falls just short

ATLANTIC — The Trojans dominated most of the game against the Panthers Saturday, but Creston (2-7) made an impressive fourth-quarter comeback for an exciting finish. Atlantic (6-4) ultimately took the 51-47 victory.

“We’ve improved a lot,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “We had five good practices over break.”

The Panthers found the first points on a steal by Kadley Bailey and assist to Hollynn Rieck who made the bucket to kick off scoring, but by the end of the first quarter, the Trojans had built a 10-point lead.

The second quarter fell flat for both teams, the Panthers logging five and the Trojans with seven points. The game was 30-18 at the half.

The Panthers had a strong start to the second half, Bailey with a fast break on the first possession to score on a layup. In Atlantic’s second possession, Bailey had a steal to drive down the court for another layup.

“We’re getting better,” Neubauer said. “That’s a good basketball team. They’re 6-4, they lost to Shen by three, they almost had LC beat.”

After the four points, though, the Panthers stalled, giving up 10 unanswered points to go down 40-22 with minimal time left in the quarter. Rieck and Braylee Pokorny were each able to find shots by the end of the third, but the Panthers still trailed 42-26 going into the final quarter.

Creston had an impressive 21-point fourth quarter featuring four 3-pointers to make the game interesting, but they couldn’t close the four-point gap.

“I hate losing, but we gave ourself a chance to win in the fourth,” Neubauer said.

Bailey opened up the quarter with a three followed by a Panther run of six to narrow the lead to eight points. The run included a three from Rieck. Senior Ava Adamson and Brynn Tussey each knocked down a shot behind the arc to cut the score to 47-43.

From there, the teams went back and forth in scoring, the Panthers unable to get closer than four.

Bailey led scoring with a game-high 16 points including two threes. She was a menace on defense, logging five steals. Rieck and Tussey each had nine points including a three. Junior Ella Turner logged seven points. Rieck led assists with seven while rebounds were even across the board, four girls each with four.

The Panthers continued to improve on shooting, making 43.9% from the field. They started the season in the 20s.

Makenna Schroeder and Paytn Harter led the Trojans with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Harter logged a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Panthers played Tuesday at Clarinda and host Denison-Schleswig on Friday.

STATS

CRESTON (47) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 18 6-8 47. Kadley Bailey 6 2-2 16, Brynn Tussey 4 0-0 9, Hollynn Rieck 4 0-0 9, Ella Turner 2 3-4 7, Ava Adamson 1 1-2 4, Braylee Pokorny 1 0-0 2. FG shooting — 18/41 (43.9 percent). 3-point goals — 5 (Bailey 2, Rieck 1, Adamson 1, Tussey 1). Rebounds — 20 (Bailey 4, Rieck 4, Adamson 4, Tussey 4, Turner 3, Adyson Morrison 1). Assists — 12 (Rieck 7, Bailey 2, Tussey 2, Morrison 1). Steals — 6 (Bailey 5, Turner 1). Turnovers — 11. Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — None.

ATLANTIC (51) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 20 6-10 51. Makenna Schroeder 5 2-2 15, Paytn Harter 6 1-2 14, Lila Wiederstein 5 0-0 10, Katrina Williams 3 2-4 8, Zoey Kirchhoff 1 0-0 3, Peyton McLaren 0 1-2 1. FG shooting — 20-47 (42.6 percent). 3-point goals — 5 (Schroeder 3, Harter 1, Kirchhoff 1). Steals — 8 (Wiederstein 4, Schroeder 2, McLaren 1, Williams 1). Rebounds — 29 (Harter 13, Wiederstein 5, Williams 5, Lamp 3, Kirchhoff 2, McLaren 1 ). Turnovers — 17. Team fouls — 8. Fouled out — none.