JEWELL — For 32 minutes, North Polk showed why it’s the No. 1-ranked girls’ basketball team in Class 3A on Coach Jim Marsh Court Tuesday night.

Winners of eight straight games since a season-opening loss to third-ranked (5A) Johnston, the Comets rained in nine 3-pointers and forced 23 turnovers in a 73-20 victory over South Hamilton.

“We ran into a really good team,” South Hamilton head coach Mark Henderson said. “North Polk has a lot of big, athletic kids who can really play basketball. They made it difficult for us to accomplish about anything.”

All-state sophomore Maggie Phipps outscored the Hawks (3-7, 2-4 HOIC) by herself, as she poured in 23 points. Jaedon Murphy added 12; a total of nine girls got in on the scoring for North Polk (8-1, 6-0 HOIC).

Aneesa Balderas paced South Hamilton with nine points, all of them coming from behind arc, and four rebounds. Sydney Friest pitched in four points and two steals.

The Hawks were limited to just seven field goals, but despite the difficult outing Henderson says his players continued to battle throughout the contest.

“I never felt like our girls quit,” he said. “They were still out there trying to make plays. That is something they should be proud of.”

North Polk 73, South Hamilton 20

Tuesday at Jewell

North Polk (8-1, 6-0 HOIC) — Katie Berglund 3 1-1 7, Brooke Johnson 0 0-2 0, Lucy Schaffer 1 2-2 5, Katie Scott 1 0-0 2, Abi Zimmer 3 1-1 7, Sydney Anderson 0 0-2 0, Katie Brown 3 0-0 9, Jaedon Murphy 6 0-0 12, Paige Johnson 3 0-0 7, Maggie Phipps 8 3-4 23, Abby Hill 0 1-2 1. Totals: 28 8-14 73.

South Hamilton (3-7, 2-4 HOIC) — Kelsey Hildreth 0 0-0 0, Rylee Woodall 0 0-0 0, Emma Lewis 1 0-0 2, Brookelyn George 1 0-0 2, Aneesa Balderas 3 0-0 9, Hailey Diersen 0 0-0 0, Kaylee Oskvig 0 0-0 0, Sydney Friest 1 2-2 4, Krista Swenson 1 0-0 3. Totals: 7 2-2 20.

North Polk 23 25 10 15 — 73

S. Hamilton 3 4 5 8 — 20

3-point field goals — NP 9 (Phipps 4, Brown 3, Schaffer, Johnson); SH 4 (Balderas 3, Swenson). Rebounds — SH 18 (Balderas 4, H. Diersen 4). Steals — SH 4 (Friest 2). Assists — SH 2 (Woodall 2). Team fouls — NP 9, SH 11. Fouled out — none.