Slow start costly for SH girls in loss to Norse
STORY CITY — A slow start and too many turnovers ultimately cost the South Hamilton girls’ basketball team a chance at an upset here Tuesday night.
Eighth-ranked (Class 3A) Roland-Story jumped out to a 17-7 lead after one quarter and forced 24 turnovers that translated into some easy points on its way to a 45-35 victory over the Hawks in Heart of Iowa Conference play.
South Hamilton head coach Mark Henderson felt there was a lot of positives with how his team played. Now the Hawks just need to find consistency for 32 minutes.
“We played right with a ranked team for most of the game,” he said. “There were just a couple of short stretches where we lost focus and had some costly turnovers. Roland-Story likes to make you play at a fast pace and tries to score off turnovers. We gave them too many opportunities to do so.”
Trailing 30-14 at the half, South Hamilton (2-3, 1-1 HOIC) outscored Roland-Story (3-0, 2-0 HOIC) 11-5 in the third quarter to close the gap to 10 points.
Emma Lewis and Sydney Friest had strong offensive performances for the Hawks, as both registered 12 points. Rylee Woodall pitched in five, Aneesa Balderas added four more and Hailey Diersen knocked down a pair of free throws.
Breanne Diersen didn’t reach the scoring column, but the senior forward made up for it in other areas. She joined her younger sister Hailey with nine rebounds, and also produced three steals and three assists, both team highs.
Friest collected eight rebounds and two steals.
Reagan Barkema was the only Roland-Story player in double figures, as she scored 11 points. Susie Weaver finished with eight, while Juliann Clark and Amy Rathmacher both contributed seven.
South Hamilton will be at Nevada on Friday for a 6 p.m. tip-off.
Roland-Story 45, South Hamilton 35
Tuesday at Story City
South Hamilton (2-3, 1-1 HOIC) — Rylee Woodall 1 2-2 5, Emma Lewis 3 5-5 12, Breanne Diersen 0 0-0 0, Brookelyn George 0 0-0 0, Aneesa Balderas 2 0-0 4, Hailey Diersen 0 2-2 2, Sydney Friest 5 1-3 12, Krista Swenson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 10-12 35.
Roland-Story (3-0, 2-0 HOIC) — Jordyn Ramus 0 0-0 0, Juliann Clark 3 0-1 7, Amy Rathmacher 3 0-0 7, Madeline Morton 0 0-1 0, Reece Johnson 0 4-4 4, Susie Weaver 3 0-0 8, Reagan Barkema 4 3-4 11, MaKayla Geise 1 0-0 2, Kylie Tjernagel 3 0-1 6. Totals: 17 7-11 45.
S. Hamilton 7 7 11 10 — 35
Rol-Story 17 13 5 10 — 45
3-point field goals — SH 3 (Woodall, Lewis, Friest); R-S 4 (Weaver 2, Clark, Rathmacher). Rebounds — SH 39 (B. Diersen 9, H. Diersen 9, Friest 8). Steals — SH 7 (B. Diersen 3, Friest 2). Assists — SH 6 (B. Diersen 3). Turnovers — SH 24. Team fouls — SH 14, R-S 12. Fouled out — SH: Woodall.