Cadets make it rain 3s, Hawks have no answer in lopsided loss
IF-A races out to 10-0 lead, never trails; Galetich top scorer for SH
JEWELL — Daring Iowa Falls-Alden to shoot the 3-pointer turned out to be a bad decision for the South Hamilton girls’ basketball team Thursday night.
Time and time again, the Cadets accepted the challenge and then celebrated as they trotted to the other end of the court.
IF-A canned five first-half triples to build an insurmountable lead and then tacked on five more after the break to sprint past the Hawks, 49-22, on Coach Jim Marsh Court. The Cadets shot 37 percent from behind the arc (10 of 27).
“I didn’t expect that,” South Hamilton head coach Mark Henderson said of the Cadets’ shooting prowess, which was led by freshman Ella Sharar, who rained in three 3s and scored a game-high 12 points. “I’ve got to take a lot of the blame because I didn’t have (the girls) ready for the specific offense that Iowa Falls ran. I didn’t do a very good job scouting report wise, but it was their first game of the season and there wasn’t any film.”
Too many of the outside looks were uncontested, particularly in the third quarter when South Hamilton (0-3) switched to a triangle-and-2 defense in an attempt to slow down Sharar and IF-A senior Jenny Wibholm, who finished with two 3s and 11 points. The Hawks were slow to cover the shooters and the Cadets ripped the nets on four triples by four different players. They outscored the Hawks 15-3 during the period to increase their lead to 41-16.
“We just let them do whatever they wanted on offense and that surprised me,” Henderson said. “We’d never practiced (the triangle-and-2), but I thought we needed to try to mix it up. I was asking a lot of the girls, but the Wibholm girl and Sharar girl are pretty good and I wanted to try to take them out of the game. But they shot us out of it.”
IF-A (1-0) seized control from the opening tip and raced out to a 10-0 lead in the initial four minutes behind 3s from Sharar and Wibholm. South Hamilton missed its first five shots and had six turnovers before it finally got on the board on a Mackenzy Grady trey from the wing with 2:30 remaining in the period.
The sluggish start was a sign of things to come, something Henderson says is not uncommon with inexperienced teams.
“They hit some shots early and we didn’t,” he said. “Especially with a young team, your confidence in that first quarter can go one way or the other, and (Thursday night) it went the wrong way.
“With an inexperienced team, you’re going to have some bumps in the road and some growing pains.”
South Hamilton connected on just 22 percent of its shots (10 of 44) and turned the ball over 25 times.
Makena Galetich continued to steer the ship for the Hawks, as the freshman produced eight points, seven rebounds and two assists in the loss. Aspen Wibholm and Zoey Duns netted four points each, but IF-A was able to contain forward Caleigh Hewitt and hold her without a field goal. Hewitt did snag six rebounds, as did reserve Kate Barkema.
South Hamilton will attempt to get into the win column on Tuesday when it opens up Heart of Iowa Conference play at home against Greene County. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
IF-Alden 49, South Hamilton 22
Thursday at Jewell
Iowa Falls-Alden (1-0) — Ella Sharar 3 3-4 12, Jenny Wibholm 4 1-3 11, Marlee Lancaster 3 0-2 8, Hailey Bridgewater 2 0-0 5, Cailin Reimer 2 1-3 6, Madison Jass 1 0-0 2, Abigail Ites 1 0-0 3, Allison Off 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 5-12 49.
South Hamilton (0-3) — Emma Lewis 0 1-2 1, Abby Ervin 0 0-0 0, Paige Evans 0 0-0 0, Makena Galetich 4 0-2 8, Kailyn Northrop 0 0-0 0, Kate Barkema 0 0-0 0, Caleigh Hewitt 0 0-0 0, Mackenzy Grady 1 0-0 3, Aspen Wibholm 2 0-0 4, Zoey Duns 2 0-0 4, Ashlyn Erickson 0 0-0 0, Grace Neuberger 1 0-0 2. Totals: 10 1-4 22.
IF-Alden 13 13 15 8 — 49
S. Hamilton 5 8 3 6 — 22
3-point field goals — IF-A 10 (Sharar 3, Wibholm 2, Lancaster 2, Bridgewater, Reimer, Ites); SH 1 (Grady). Rebounds — SH 39 (Galetich 7, Hewitt 6, Barkema 6). Steals — SH 7 (Evans 2). Assists — SH 3 (Galetich 2). Turnovers — SH 25. Team fouls — SH 16. Fouled out — none.