Hawks End 4-Game Skid at Ankeny

OSTRANDER GRABS 27 CAROMS IN 60-53 WIN

The streak has ended. East Greene put a stop to a four-game losing streak in boys basketball with a 60-53 win over Ankeny Christian Academy in Ankeny on Tuesday night.

After some poor starts in its last few games, the Hawks came out solid and played the Eagles even through three quarters of play. A big 22 to 11 push in the last quarter sealed the win over a team that had rolled over EG by 20 points back in December.

“This was a great win for our program,” said assistant coach Mark Renslow. “We changed up our defensive scheme and it worked out great.”

Ankeny Christian was up by three after one quarter of play, 18-15, and held a slim advantage at the half, 26-25. The Eagles pulled in front 42-38 by the end of the third period, but the Hawks bore down and took command of the game in the last quarter.

The Hawks were paced by Reed Ostrander who scored 22 points, pulled down 27 rebounds and blocked 6 shots. Renslow said Ostrander’s 27 rebounds is most likely a school record. “I’m checking on that.”

Also in double figures were Wyatt Beaman with 17 points and Alex Gordon with 12. The Hawks continue to look to regain the shooting touch that helped them to a four-game win streak before the Christmas break. Against Ankeny Christian, they were 19 of 51 for 37% but only 4 of 20 from behind the three-point line for just 20%. The Eagles were 21 of 63 from the field for 33% and 3-11 behind the arc for 27%.

The game was won at the free throw line, where EG went 18-27 for 67% compared with ACA’s 8-15 for 53%. Rebounding was even with EG holding a slight 42-40 advantage.

This was a key win for EG as the Eagles were still in contention for the Rolling Hills championship after beating Paton-Churdan 69-33 last Tuesday to move to 8-2 in the conference, just behind co-leaders CAM and Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton at 9-1.

ACA and EEHK then tangled on Friday night at Ankeny, with the Spartans getting a 69-46 win to move to 10-1 and dropping ACA to 8-3, leaving them in third place just ahead of Adair-Casey (7-4), who lost by 7 to EEHK. CAM rolled over EG in Rippey 74-43 that same night—the Hawks’ fourth straight loss—to stay deadlocked with EEHK for the league lead. The loss dropped EG to 5-6 in the league so it didn’t look too promising with a road game at the third-place team in the conference next on the schedule.

EG evened its league mark to 6-6 and is now tied with Orient-Macksburg for fifth place, just behind Adair-Casey (7-5). ACA (8-4) remains in third place behind the co-leaders.

EG and ACA are also in the same district for post-season play and are jockeying for a good seed, which is based on results of games 5-14 on each team’s season schedule. The win moved EG to 5-4 for the seeding standing and dropped ACA to 6-3 with two games left for seeding purposes for both teams. EG hosts Walnut tomorrow night in Rippey and takes on Paton-Churdan in Churdan on Tuesday.

Rolling Hills Conference Boys Basketball

CAM (Anita) 11-1

Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 11-1

Ankeny Christian 8-4

Adair-Casey 7-5

East Greene 6-6
Iowa Christian 6-6
Orient-Macksburg 5-7
Walnut 3-9
Glidden-Ralston 3-9
Paton-Churdan 0-12

Tuesday, Jan. 17, Scores:

EG 60, ANK 53

EEHK 49, AC 42

CAM 60, GR 45

ICA 45, WAL 39

OM 41, PC 34

EG NETTERS FACE WG

Hawkettes Can Tie for Conference No. 2 Spot

East Greene heads to Woodward tonight for a key West Central Conference battle against Woodward-Granger. EG swept West Central Valley last Tuesday in a 3-zip match to move to 4-2 in the West Central, just one game behind Woodward-Granger at 5-1, after WG had disposed of Des Moines Christian 25-17, 32-30, 25-23.

WG’s win dropped DMC from second into a tie for third place with East Greene. Guthrie Center remains atop the league standings with a perfect 6-0 mark and has already beaten the other top 3 teams: WG, EG and DMC. Guthrie takes on Madrid tonight on the road, then closes its conference and regular season with home games against West Central Valley and Coon Rapids-Bayard (3-3), last year’s conference champion and state qualifier.

East Greene picked up a key win two weeks ago (Sept. 22) against CRB in Rippey, rolling over the Crusaders in a three-game match 25-23, 25-23, 26-24.

EG closes out the season with a tournament Saturday at Walnut and home matches against league foes Panorama (3-3) on Tuesday and Madrid (1-5) on Thursday. EG opens regional action the following Wednesday, Oct. 21, at Madrid against the winner of a first round tilt between Madrid and Glidden-Ralston on Monday, Oct. 19, in Madrid.

West Central Conference Volleyball Standings
Guthrie Center 6-0
Woodward-Granger 5-1
East Greene 4-2
Des Moines Christian 4-2
Coon Rapids-Bayard 3-3
Panorama 3-3
Earlham 2-4
Madrid 1-5
Van Meter 1-5
West Central Valley 1-5

EYE ON GJ SAYS: It’s a battle of the birds at Woodward tonight as the EG Hawkettes take on the WG Hawkettes. This is a good test for the EG team as they face a quality team in WG. They should see some good competition in the Walnut Tournament on Saturday and will need to prepared for a much improved Panorama team next week in Rippey. The regionals get underway next week and EG can’t overlook either GR or Madrid, their opponent in round two. State-ranked Southern Cal hosts Paton-Churdan in Lake City in the opposite bracket second round game and the SC-PC and EG-Madrid or GR winners face off in Lake City the following week in the quarterfinals. So if EG makes it to the quarters the likely opponent would be Southern Cal, and the Hawkettes would really need an all-out effort to upend the Mustangs, who made it all the way to the regional finals last year and are ranked 12th this year with a 16-7 record. The other favorite in the region is Exira (13-5) ranked 11th in the state and undefeated in the Rolling Hills Conference.

BASEBALL

Hawks Score Big Win Over League Leader

East Greene picked up a big win at Panora 8-4 on Tuesday night, June 16, knocking the Panorama Panthers out of first place in the West Central Conference.

The Hawks have now won three straight and four of their last five, moving their season record to 6-3.

Not only did the win knock Panorama off the top of the league standings, but it moved the Hawks up from seventh place to fourth place, where they are tied with Van Meter at 4-2. Josh Neese and Jesse Luther each hit home runs to lead the Hawks at the plate. Tyler Cooklin held the Panthers in check, giving up 8 runs, 3 walks and striking out 3.

EG was up 8-0 and held off a surge by Panorama in the bottom of the seventh, with Brock Lyons coming in to relieve Cooklin after the Panthers had notched four runs. Lyons got the last out, striking out the batter with the bases loaded.

On Monday night, the Hawks took care of Glidden-Ralston 12-2 in a game shortened to six innings. Last week the Hawks beat Guthrie Center on Monday 11-4, fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard 5-1 on Tuesday but came back for a win over West Central Valley 9-2 on Thursday.

Against G-R, the Hawks pounded out 12 hits led by Cooklin going 3 for 4 with 2 singles, a double and 2 RBIs. Bradley Clark was 2 for 3 with a single and a double, and Neese went 3 for 4 with a double and 2 singles. Aaron Lyons had 3 RBIs off his single hit in two trips to the plate.

Wes Onken got the win for EG, giving up just 2 runs, 1 walk and striking out 8 Wildcat batters. The Hawks had a great night offensively and defensively with 8 stolen bases and just 1 error.

The West Central Valley game saw the Hawks pile up 13 hits, 10 stolen bases and no errors. Jesse Priest was 3 for 3 with 3 singles and 3 stolen bases. Onken got the win with Brock Lyons relieving him in the final inning.

West Central Conference Standings:
Earlham 5-1
Panorama 6-2
Des Moines Christian 6-2
East Greene 4-2
Van Meter 4-2
Madrid 5-3
Coon Rapids-Bayard 4-3
Glidden-Ralston 1-7
West Central Valley 1-6
Guthrie Center 0-8


SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, June 17:
DMC 3, MAD 2
Non-conference
CRB 10, Walnut 0
Carlisle 15, WCV 0
Martensdale-St. Mary’s 6, VM 3

Tuesday, June 16:
EG 8, PAN 4
WCV 12, GC 9
EAR 10, GR 0
CRB @ VM, ppd. to July 10
MAD @ DMC, ppd to Wed, June 17

Monday, June 15:
EG 12, GR 2
EAR 5, VM 2
CRB 9, WCV 0
DMC 6, PAN 4
MAD 5, GC 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS:

This is a big win for the Hawks and really tightens up the conference race. Any of the top seven teams in the league have a shot at the WC crown. Panorama, DMC and Madrid have a slight advantage at this juncture as they have played eight league games, while Earlham, EG and Van Meter have played just six. CRB may be 4-3 and in seventh place, but they’ve got a great baseball heritage, talented players and a veteran coach. Look for CRB to also shine in the post-season as they host both district and substate baseball tournaments.

EG is truly showing its mettle against the area “big schools.” West Central Valley, Panorama and Jefferson-Scranton are the three largest schools (all in Class 2A) on the Hawks’ baseball and Hawkettes’ softball schedules this season. Enrollment-wise, EG is the smallest of the 10 schools in the West Central, while non-conference foe J-S plays in various sports as either a 2A or 3A school. So far, the Hawks are 3-0 against these “Big Three,” downing J-S, West Central Valley and Panorama. The Hawkettes are 2-2, losing in league play to WCV and Panorama in Grand Junction, but beating Panorama down in Panora and downing J-S in a tournament in Ogden. Combined score: EG 5, BIG THREE 2. Small in numbers, but certainly not in heart and talent!

Baseball

EG Beats Jefferson-Scranton in Season Opener, 4-2

East Greene made it a repeat in their head-to-head confrontation with Jefferson-Scranton last night in Jefferson, beating the Rams 4-2, to win their season opener.

It was a repeat of last year's matchup when EG dropped the Rams 11-7, which gives the Hawks bragging rights as the county's best baseball team two years in a row. But it doesn't get much easier for the Hawks, as they take their 1-0 record into tonight's matchup against Grandview Park Baptist in Des Moines. The Defenders went 21-11 last year and advanced to the state tournament. Last year, the Hawks dropped a close 3-1 game to GVP.

The Hawks' home and conference opener is Monday night against Earlham, then they travel to Van Meter on Tuesday and Des Moines Christian on Thursday, taking on two of the four teams that tied for West Central Conference championship last year. J-S (0-1) hosts Woodward-Granger Friday in a JV/varsity doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m.

Scoreboard
West Central Conference teams (non-conference games):
Wednesday
Adair Casey 8, Glidden-Ralston 1
Tuesday
Creston at Guthrie Center, ppd. to May 27
Ogden at Coon Rapids-Bayard, ppd.
Monday
Van Meter 14, Winterset 4 (5 innings)
Area teams:
Wednesday
Humboldt at Southeast Webster-Grand, ppd.
Norwalk 6, Perry 1
Ogden 9, Prairie Valley 6

EYE ON GJ SAYS: This is a great start for the Hawks and it looks to be another strong year for the West Central Conference, as Van Meter has beaten Class 3A Winterset and now EG downs Jefferson-Scranton, one of the largest 2A schools with an enrollment of 290 (grades 9-11) where the cutoff between 3A and 2A schools is right around 300. East Greene has picked up players from Paton-Churdan this summer in baseball and softball, but its combined enrollment with PC (93 + 33) keeps it in the middle range of Class 1A enrollments at 126. Playing for the Hawks this year from PC are junior Jordan Burrell and sophomore Chris Anderson.