One mistake turned into two. Two became three. Three became four. And no it went.

Always looking for that one big play to jumpstart the momentum, WCHS fell right into the trap set by Southeast Valley in a 63-46 non-conference loss to the Jaguars.

Southeast Valley (7-5) forced nine first-quarter turnovers and gave up just one field goal, as it built an 18-4 lead en route to ending a recent four-game slide.

WCHS head coach Marty McKinney was perplexed. He’s coached for a long time and his teams simply don’t make that many mistakes. The Lynx — at least the Lynx teams of previous seasons — don’t creep toward a double-digit turnover total in eight minutes, and they certainly aren’t accustomed to the 23 miscues they compiled in all.

WCHS junior Jamin Stuhr (34) scores in transition during the first quarter against Southeast Valley on Tuesday in Burnside. Stuhr scored a team-high 15 points for the Lynx in a 63-46 loss. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“Turnovers have been a huge, huge issue for us this year,” McKinney said. “They’re fixable, but they’re glaring right now.

“We cannot let one mistake turn into two. You can’t live and die over every play, every missed shot. When you do that, it’s not going to get better. Now, give (Southeast Valley) credit because their guards are very active in the passing lanes. They put pressure on us and we didn’t handle it.”

WCHS (2-4) also couldn’t handle Aaron Graves, the Jaguars’ behemoth 6-foot-4 junior forward who has verbally committed to play football at the University of Iowa. Despite sitting for long stretches of the second half due to foul trouble, Graves still scored a game-high 21 points. He poured in 15 and even drained a 3-pointer from the corner in the first half to help Southeast Valley build a 13-point cushion, 34-21, at the break.

Sam Hanson ripped off 15 points and Kolson Kruse, who is Southeast Valley’s leading scorer on the season, scored 11 more.

“We knew going in that (Graves) was going to be a tough match-up, but he was only averaging 11 points,” McKinney said. “To his credit, he finished a lot of shots and he got a lot of great looks.”

WCHS guard Trey Lyons (11) lets a 3-pointer fly from the right wing during the fourth quarter against Southeast Valley on Tuesday in Burnside. The Lynx fell in a big hole early and could never recover in a 63-46 loss. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

WCHS had its moments, bursts where it looked like it might jump back into contention. Beau Klaver scored from the left block in the closing moments of the third quarter to trim the Lynx deficit to 11, and WCHS had three chances to climb to within single digits in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but committed two turnovers.

“Every time we’d make a run or we’d get a turnover, we’d give it right back,” McKinney said. “There’s good basketball players on this team. There’s good athletes and there’s great kids, but for some reason we just can’t put the pieces together or we haven’t put the pieces together.”

McKinney says part of the problem is inconsistency, both in effort and execution.

“We don’t have a whole lot of urgency at times,” he said. “At times we get after it and we’re really just on, but other times we take minutes off. We’re not good enough to do that.”

Southeast Valley led by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter, even as Graves went to the bench briefly with four fouls. A 3-point play by Ty McKinney closed the gap to 13, 59-46, with two minutes remaining.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Jamin Stuhr led WCHS with 15 points and six rebounds inside the paint. The junior forward had 10 points in the opening half.

Ty McKinney scored eight of his 13 points following the break, and the sophomore also collected seven boards, five assists and three steals. Tyler Olson added seven points, seven caroms and three steals; Tavis Eklund returned to the floor for the first time since December due to an ankle injury and pitched in five points and three assists.

WCHS will be back at home on Friday to take on North Central Conference foe Iowa Falls-Alden at 7:45 p.m.

SE Valley 63, Webster City 46

Tuesday at Burnside

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Webster City (2-4) — Tyler Olson 3 0-1 7, Devon Stoakes 0 0-0 0, Ty McKinney 5 3-5 13, Trey Lyons 1 1-2 4, Tavis Eklund 2 0-0 5, Briar Klaver 0 0-0 0, Jamin Stuhr 5 5-6 15, Beau Klaver 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 9-14 46.

Southeast Valley (7-5) — Tre Fisher 1 0-0 2, Kolson Kruse 4 1-2 11, Hunter Sorenson 2 0-0 4, Carson Lambert 0 0-0 0, Braeden Johnson 0 0-0 0, Aaron Graves 10 0-1 21, Kaleb Scott 1 0-0 2, Sam Hanson 7 0-0 15, Rhett Grandfield 4 0-2 8. Totals: 29 1-5 63.

Web City 4 17 18 7 — 46

SE Valley 18 16 16 13 — 63

3-point field goals — WC 3 (Olson, Lyons, Eklund); SEV 4 (Kruse 2, Graves, Hanson). Rebounds — WC 27 (Olson 7, McKinney 7, Stuhr 6). Steals — WC 7 (Olson 3, McKinney 3). Assists — WC 11 (McKinney 5, Eklund 3). Turnovers — WC 23. Team fouls — WC 10, SEV 19. Fouled out — none.