First-quarter blitz sinks Panthers

EARLHAM — The Earlham girls raced to a 20-8 lead in building a 59-41 non-conference victory over Creston Thursday night.

In what would become a theme for the night, Earlham grabbed four offensive rebounds on the final possession of the first quarter, leading to Darby Moore’s 3-pointer at the buzzer. The shot put the Cardinals comfortably ahead, 23-10.

From there, Earlham held only a 36-31 advantage in improving to 10-9 for the season. Creston, 7-13, closes the regular season at home Monday against Clarinda.

Earlham finished with a 49-32 rebounding edge in the game, including 21 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points. The Cardinals had 70 shot attempts (22-70) from the field, while Creston finished 17-54 from the field (31.5%).

“They’re not a bad team, but we can’t spot teams like like that in the first quarter,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “Our defensive energy wasn’t great tonight. We gave up 23 points in that quarter and 36 the rest of the night. You can’t spot decent teams 15 points. We battled back and played hard, but we didn’t do anything really well tonight.”

Earlham outscored Creston 27-3 from 3-point range and went 6-6 at the free throw line, while Creston was 6 of 11 on free throws.

Ella Turner had a double-double with a team-high 11 points and 11 rebounds for Creston. Kadley Bailey had 10 points. Hollynn Rieck, who tied the school’s single-game assists record of 15 three nights earlier at Clarke, dished out five assists Thursday. Adyson Morrison scored six points, all from the field. Braylee Pokorny provided five points off the bench.

“We got it down to 10 points (43-33 at 4:04 third quarter), but we have to play clean in those situations to complete the comeback,” Neubauer said. “We’ll have a good practice and play Clarinda Monday before we find out Wednesday who we play in regionals.”

Monday’s 6 p.m. game is VIP night for the Creston girls, with each player inviting a student in kindergarten-eighth grade to the game as their guest. Clarinda (11-9) won the Jan. 7 encounter with Creston in Clarinda, 53-48.

EARLHAM (59) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 22 6-6 59. Avrie Fagan 7 6-6 21, Olivia Nixt 6 0-0 15, Darvy Moore 5 0-0 15, Camryn Sly 1 0-0 3, Mackenzie Harger 1 0-0 3, Piper Koberg 1 0-0 2. FG shooting — 22-70 (31.4 percent). 3-point goals — 9 (Nixt 3, Moore 2, Fagan 1, Harger 1). Rebounds — 49. Turnovers — 17. Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — none.

CRESTON (41) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 17 6-11 41. Ella Turner 3 4-7 11, Kadley Bailey 5 0-0 10, Adyson Morrison 3 0-0 6, Braylee Pokorny 2 1-1 5, Brynn Tussey 1 0-0 2, Hollynn Rieck 2 0-1 4, Jensan Tussey 1 1-2 3. FG shooting — 17-54 (31.5 percent). 3-point goals — 1-9 (Turner 1). Rebounds — 32 (Turner 11, Rieck 4, B. Tussey 4, Pokorny 4). Assists — 11 (Rieck 5, Bailey 2, Pokorny 2). Steals — 10 (Turner 3, Bailey 2, Rieck 2). Blocked shots — 2 (Bailey 1, Turner 1. Turnovers — 19. Team fouls — 12. Fouled out — None.