Girls Game
NEW SHARON – On a night when North Mahaska’s shooting percentage was far lower than normal, senior Libby Hargis stepped up to take control. Usually a reserve, coach L.E. Moore gave her a chance to start on senior night. She responded with 11 points, 10 rebounds and four steals to help NM to a 49-19 victory over English Valleys.
Normally the Warhawks come out strong on both ends of the court, but the young and scrappy Bears trailed just 8-4 after one period. NM outscored English Valleys (7-6) 11-7 for a 19-11 halftime lead.
“They are a scrappy team and played like they had nothing to lose,” said Moore. “They are going to be a tough team next year.”
English Valleys’ roster includes six sophomores and three freshmen compared to North Mahaska’s, which sports seven seniors and a junior along with their freshman and sophomores.
North Mahaska had a miserable night at the foul line hitting just 8-of-20 attempts. EV shot twice hitting one. Senior Sydney Andersen provided much of the first quarter offense with five points. The other three came off the hand of junior Aly Steil. Hargis got her night going in the second period when she hit a shot and free throw on the play.
Hargis continued to battle the boards in the second half and accounted for six fourth quarter points.
“Libby played a real nice game tonight,” said Moore. “She and the rest of the team handled the second half battle and we were able to pull away. They pushed us in the first half and we had to find some inner strength and that came about in the second half.”
North Mahaska’s defense limited EV to six points in the third quarter and a basket by freshman Kaylynn Caster in the fourth.
Breckyn Schilling led all players with 13 points and collected three assists and doled out four assists for the Warhawks. Andersen finished with seven points, six rebounds and four steals. Senior Regan Grewe scored six points with six steals and five rebounds. Another senior, Kayla Readshaw scored six points with five assists.
Sophomore Ava Gehrking led English Valleys with eight points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Boys Game
North Mahaska’s seniors came through on senior night to score a 70-36 victory over English Valleys Friday. Four seniors accounted for 51 of the points over the freshman-sophomore dominated Bears.
No. 10 North Mahaska used a 17-7 run in the opening period and led 40-17 at halftime. Coming out of the locker room North Mahaska limited English Valleys to a basket by Ben Axmear in the third period with 3 minutes 34 seconds to play in the quarter. The Bears would not score again until sophomore Kane Axmear hit a jumper with 7:20 to play in the game.
The Warhawks forced a continuous clock at the 4:03 mark of the third period on Asher DeBoef’s basket. It was two of the senior’s 11 points. He also added seven assists, six rebounds, four steals and a block. NM was led by senior Gabe Hora who hit eight 3-pointers for 24 points and five rebounds.
Only two players on the Warhawk roster failed to score but got into the stat sheet. Juniors Jaxon VanDerVeer and Dave VanMersbergen each scored seven points and seniors Adrian Smith and Lucas Nunnikhoven added six and five respectively.
“It was a matter of good team passing again tonight,” said NM coach Kevin Kelderman. “We didn’t get too many offensive rebounds. I thought we missed some layups. We worked on some things in the second half to get ready for the stretch.”
Kelderman’ whose roster includes eight seniors, started a different lineup to allow those seniors who do not start heard their name called as a starter.
“They contribute every day,” said Kelderman. “Can’t start all of them but gave them a chance tonight.”
North Mahaska (12-2, 9-1) hosts BGM on Tuesday then goes to Montezuma on Friday for what could help decide the South Iowa Cedar League title.
