The 12th (3A) ranked Cowgirl basketball team keeps rolling along with wins over Belmond-Klemme and Hampton-Dumont/CAL in the past week.
On Thursday in Belmond, the red & black doubled the score on the home team 22-11 by the end of the first period and stood in the lead at 39-20 at halftime. They maintained a comfortable lead, and also built on it, throughout the second half to take the 74-48 victory.
“We needed a good confidence-building game coming off the break,” stated head coach Liz Ennis. “We came out and played some pretty good pressure defense, causing them to turn the ball over quite a bit. We also outrebounded the Broncos 32 to 20. It was also nice to have a higher-scoring game. Putting up 74 points shows we have some scorers and the girls need to have confidence in their shots.”
The team shot 59.6 percent from the field, 41.7 percent from the charity line and 43.8 percent from three-point land. They had 32 total rebounds (22 on defense), 20 total assists, 17 total steals and three total blocked shots. Three Cowgirls finished in double-digit scoring, with Raven Kinnetz leading the way at 29 points on 11 of 16 and no less than five treys. Jadyn Jondle netted 14 points on 6 of 10 and one three-pointer, and Morgan Middleton had 14 points on 7 of 7 from the field. Lexie Lane came close at eight points, with Alaina Friesleben adding four, Kendall Lienemann three and Emma Conlon two points to the total.
Jondle had a double-double in ripping down 10 boards (nine defensively), followed by Kinnetz with six and both Middleton and Lane at five apiece. Friesleben grabbed four caroms, with Lienemann and Nicole Waters at one each. Jondle dished the pumpkin for six assists, with Kinnetz and Friesleben adding three each. Lienemann and Lane made two apiece, while Middleton, Waters, Conlon and Sawyer Morrical all had one each. Jondle was a demon on defense in making eight steals, with Kinnetz and Lane both at two each. Friesleben, Middleton, Waters, Conlon and Morrical all had one theft of the ball each. Jondle finished her line with two blocked shots and Lienemann one.
“Jadyn had an excellent all-around game,” said Ennis. “Raven also had six deflections, which means her hands were up and she was affecting the passes. I emphasize deflects with my players and reward them for deflects and steals. Defense is so important, and if we can alter the opponent’s passes it leads to a lot of frustration for them and sometimes some easy baskets for us. Alaina had some nice shots in this game. She is gaining more confidence on offense and does a nice job of rebounding. Although Nicole struggled with her shot, I was really pleased with her defense. She has really put an emphasis on her defensive game and has given us some good minutes with it. Lexie and Kendall had some nice plays on offense and they work hard on the defensive side as well. Emma gave us some good minutes off the bench.”
On Friday the team hosted Hampton-Dumont/CAL and defeated the Bulldogs 42-30. They held only a 19-17 advantage at the break, only to come out of the locker room on fire in outscoring their opponent 13 points to just two to take over the game after three periods. The team shot 36.6 from the field, a great 88.9 percent from the line and 33.3 percent from three-point range. They had 31 total rebounds (23 on defense), eight total assists, eight total steals and two total blocked shots.
“We were a bit rusty on offense,” said the head coach. “We need to get used to playing two nights in a row because it’s going to happen a few more times this season.”
Kinnetz poured in 25 points, which included three treys and a red-hot 8 of 8 from the charity stripe. Jondle scored six points, Lienemann four points, Lane three points and both Friesleben and Middleton two points apiece. Middleton was high with seven off the glass, followed by Jondle with six and Kinnetz, Friesleben and Waters all at four rebounds each. Lane managed three, Lienemann two and Conlon one.
Middleton handed out five assists, with Lane, Conlon and Lienemann all at one each. Kinnetz picked pockets for three steals, followed by Jondle and Middleton at two each and Lane at one. Friesleben added two blocked shots to her final stat line.
“Morgan fell short on some of her early shots and also got heavily pressured in the post,” said Ennis. “That opened up Raven, who was determined to lead this team on this night. She was everywhere on the floor, crashed the offensive and defensive boards and had three steals and nine deflections. She wanted to win this game and it was the hardest I’ve seen her play all year. Jadyn struggled with her shooting, but made up for it in rebounds and steals. We talked at halftime about how Morgan was getting double or triple teamed in the low post, so we adjusted and brought her into the high post more. This gave her more opportunity to become a passer and as a result she had five assists and made seven rebounds. She was in some foul trouble and so this would have been a great game to have had Emma available but she’s out with an ankle injury. We did a better job moving the ball on offense. If we want to beat really good teams, we’re going to have to play much better defense and do a better job of stopping the ball when the quicker players are bringing the ball up the court. We built the lead in the third, but they made a run to try to get back in the game. We can’t let up.”
