FACE DM CHRISTIAN ON LIONS’ HOME COURT
East Greene remains undefeated in girls basketball in the new year after sweeping Earlham and Van Meter last week. The Hawkettes opened January play with a win over Woodward-Granger on Jan. 5 and followed that up with a Saturday Jan. 9 victory at Madrid.
The 4-0 January start puts the Hawkettes at 7-5 for the season and 6-4 in the West Central Conference, good for fifth place and just a game behind fourth-place Guthrie Center (7-3).
Tonight EG will be out to avenge a Dec. 21 home loss to Des Moines Christian as the two teams square off in Urbandale. DMC got the best of the Hawkettes 43-30 in their December tilt. The Lions are tied with West Central Valley for second place in the conference at 9-2.
Last week’s sweep of Earlham and Van Meter was a repeat of the conference-opening weekend in early December. EG had beaten Earlham on the road on Friday (Dec. 4) 35-29 and Van Meter the following night in Rippey, 33-26. The Hawkettes continue to play tenacious defense as they held those same opponents in check last week as the teams opened the second half of conference play.
EG went to Van Meter Saturday, Jan. 16, and came away with a 43-30 win. The Hawkettes were at home on Friday and they showed great improvement over their first game with Earlham as they drubbed the Cardinals 44-24. The Hawkettes have held those two opponents to just an average of 27.3 points per game in the four contests.
EG jumped on Earlham early, holding them scoreless in the first quarter, 13-0, and extending the lead to a comfortable 24-4 at the half. The Hawkettes were up 37-11 after three periods and coasted the rest of the way, giving freshmen reserves Tori Lowe, Brittany Gunn and Liz Gunn some valuable varsity playing time.
Malarie Gilley paced a balanced Hawkette attack with 13 points. She was 6-10 from the field and 1-for-2 from behind the 3-point line. Molly Neese added 12 points and Katylnn Gannon 11. Rounding out the scoring were Jessica Beaman and Tia Lowe with 3 each and Jasmine Kinney with two. Gilley had a big night on the defensive end with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Neese had boards and Beaman 6.
EG shot a very solid 53% from the line on 19-of-36 field goals. The Hawkettes were 1-3 from three-point land but stumbled a bit at the free throw line, hitting just 5 of 11 for 45%. Both teams had trouble hanging on to the ball with EG guilty of 23 turnovers and Earlham 21. EG had a big advantage on the boards, 33-21.
Van Meter jumped out to an early lead in the Saturday game but EG came back to take a 12-8 lead at the first quarter break. The game remained tight in the second quarter with VM tying it up at 12 but EG edging ahead for a 16-12 at the half.
The Bulldogs game plan was to keep Gilley in check and they succeeded in the first half, holding her to just 2 points, but she got on track in the second half as the Hawkettes moved ahead after three quarters, 27-20, and outscored VM 16-10 to win by 13 points, 43-30.
Gilley lead the attack with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Tia Lowe added 9, Beaman had 7, Neese 6, and Gannon 1. The Hawkettes were 15-39 from the floor for 39%. Gilley and Gannon combined for EG’s free throws. Gilley was 9-17 and Gannon 1-2, giving the Hawkettes a 10-19 night at the line for 53%.
Beaman had a solid night defensively with 8 rebounds and seven steals. The Hawkettes played a solid game all around, limiting their turnovers to 16 and being whistled for just 9 fouls. Van Meter was guilty of 24 turnovers and 15 fouls. EG had the edge on the boards, 29-25.
Aspen Rhodes led the Bulldogs with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The loss dropped Van Meter to 2-7 in conference action.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: This is a big week for the Hawkettes and could go long way in defining this season’s success. EG has had its way with this month with the bottom four teams in the conference--Earlham, Van Meter, Madrid and Woodward-Granger--who have a combined conference record of just 5-34. But tonight’s opponent (DMC) is the 15th-ranked team in Class 1-A, which has been ranked as high as eighth. This week’s opponents--DMC, Panorama and Guthrie Center--are three of the top four teams in the league.
League-leader Panorama (10-0) comes to Rippey on Thursday night for a game that was cancelled and rescheduled due to the snow storm on Friday, Jan. 8. The Panthers have been ranked all season in Class 2-A. Last week, Panorama was ranked 5th but is likely to drop a few spots when this week’s poll is released by the IGHSAU. The Panthers were beaten by Audubon 41-30 Saturday night in Audubon, dropping them to 11-2 for the season. Panorama’s only other loss was to Martensdale-St. Mary’s, which is the No. 2 team in Class 1-A. Audubon, a 2A school, improved to 11-1 for the year and will no doubt be ranked this week after knocking off Panorama. The Wheelerettes’ only loss this year has been to IKM-Manning, the 8th-ranked team in Class 2A.
Guthrie Center is Friday’s night opponent for another home game. The Tigerettes thumped EG 49-31 on Dec. 11 in Guthrie Center so the Hawkettes will be out to even the slate in Rippey.
West Central Conference Standings (through Friday, Jan. 15):
Panorama 10-0 (Ranked #5 in Class 2A)
Des Moines Christian 9-2 (Ranked #15 in Class 1A)
West Central Valley 9-2
Guthrie Center 7-3
East Greene 6-4
Coon Rapids-Bayard 4-5
Van Meter 2-7
Woodward-Granger 2-7
Earlham 1-9
Madrid 0-11
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