Fourth quarter surge boosts Creston girls

CLARINDA — An 11-0 run in the fourth quarter gave the Creston girls a 10-point lead as they held off Clarinda Tuesday in a 63-58 win.

At about the 6:30 mark left in the game, Clarinda’s Carsen Wellhausen scored a basket to give the Cardinals a 44-43 lead. It would be another two minutes before Clarinda would score again.

Junior Brynn Tussey put Creston ahead with a basket. The next trip down, Kadley Bailey scored a 3-point basket to extend the lead to 48-44. Nearing the 5 minute mark, Panther Ava Adamson’s basket up the lead to 50-44. Adamson repeated the performance on Creston’s next possession.

It was not until a Clarinda 3-point basket with 4:20 left in the game that ended Creston’s scoring streak.

“We came out dead in the third quarter. We’ve got to stay in the game in the third to give ourselves a chance in the fourth,” said Creston coach Tony Neubauer. “We did a good job. We hurried up a little bit, but when it got down to four we still hit free throws.”

Clarinda was able to trim the deficit to single digits. Clarinda’s Jerzee Knight basket and missed free throw cut the Creston lead to 59-54 with 1:22 remaining. An exchange of free throws by both teams the last minute ended with a 61-58 Creston lead with 9 seconds left. Kadlee Bailey’s two free throws at that moment secured the win.

Clarinda had a 29-28 halftime lead. Although Neubauer called his team’s play dead in the third quarter, they never let Clarinda have more than a five-point lead. Cardinal Addison Wagoner’s consecutive shots to start the second half gave Clarinda a 33-28 lead. Tussey and Bailey made a it a 33-32 Clarinda advantage with 5:55 in the quarter.

Clarinda had a 38-34 lead with 3:30 remaining. Points from Creston’s Ella Turner and Bailey created a 40-39 Clarinda lead starting the fourth quarter.

Bailey, a junior, led Creston with 25 points from 7-12 shooting and 4-5 from the 3-point line. She made seven of 11 free throws.

“Both our games were close last year,” Neubauer said. “They won both, but not that far part. We match up nice. We are even. It was a total team win.”

The Cardinals applied some pressure to start the game. Both teams had their opportunities in the first stanza but missed shots and errant passes occurred. Creston built a 19-11 lead to end the quarter. Tussey scored eight of her 13 points in the first quarter. She was 6-12 shooting and 1-2 from the free throw line.

“We still missed shots, and have go to get better on 2-on-1 situations,” Neubauer said. “Our kids never panicked. Ava had a couple transition shots. Ella had a couple transitions shots.”

Clarinda took a 22-21 lead at the 3:45 mark in the second quarter.

Turner finished with 10 points from 4-10 shooting and 1-3 from the 3-point line. She made one of two free throws.

Turner and Tussey each had a team high nine rebounds. Hollynn Rieck had six assists to lead Creston.

As a team, Creston finished 24-54 shooting and 5-15 from the 3-point line. The Panthers made 10-21 free throws and had 18 turnovers. Clarinda outrebounded Creston 37-31.

Knight, Wagoner and Kylie Meier each finished with 15 points to lead Clarinda. Wagoner had a team high 12 rebounds.

Creston (3-7) hosts Denison-Schleswig (2-6) 6 p.m. Friday.

STATS

CRESTON (63) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 24 10-21 63. Kadley Bailey 7 7-11 25, Brynn Tussey 6 1-2 13, Hollynn Rieck 4 1-6 9, Ella Turner 4 1-2 10 Ava Adamson 3 0-0 6. FG shooting — 24/54 (44.4 percent). 3-point goals — 5 (Bailey 4, Turner 1). Rebounds — 31 (Bailey 3, Rieck 4, Adamson 4, Tussey 9, Turner 9, Adyson Morrison 2). Assists — 17 (Rieck 6, Bailey 3, Tussey 3, Turner 3 Adamson 2). Steals — 15 (Bailey 7, Rieck 4, Turner 3 Morrison 1). Turnovers — 18. Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — None.

CLARINDA (58) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 21 10-17 58. Jerzee Knight 7 1-3 15, Addison Wagoner 5 3-6 15, Kylie Meier 3 6-8 15, Carsen Wellhausen 3 0-0 6, Maddie Cole 1 0-0 3, Miley Wagoner 2 0-0, 4. FG shooting — 21-55 (38 percent). 3-point goals — 6 (A. Wagoner 2, Meier 3, Cole 1). Steals — 16 (Knight 4, A. Wagoner 6, Meier 3, Wellhausen 1 Cole 2). Rebounds — 37 (Knight 3, A. Wagoner 12, Meier 5, Wellhausen 11, Cole 4 ). Turnovers — 25. Team fouls — NA. Fouled out — NA.