LONE TREE

Lone Tree answered quickly in its girls basketball battle against English Valleys last Saturday (Dec. 9).

The Lions took a 10-point lead in the opening quarter, 18-8, with strong shooting and defensive pressure against a team that had won four straight games.

By the end of the afternoon, Lions sophomore guard Finley Jacque had scored 19 points and sophomore forward Alyson Ford scored a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds in a 55-42 victory.

“We started off shooting the ball really well,” Lone Tree head coach Ryan Shelman said. “Then our defense gave them a little bit of trouble.”

It’s a formula that led to three Lone Tree victories last week, extending the Lions win streak to four.

“We’re a really good defensive team,” Shelman said. “I think our pressure, we were able to get some turnovers, that also led to some opportunities for us.”

Lone Tree’s starters combined for 15 steals, including 4 each by senior Avery Lisk and junior Vivian Zaruba.

Jacque scored 63 points in three games last week, rising to No. 2 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North scoring rankings. Zaruba is the top defensive player in the league with 40 steals in eight games. Ford trails only Highland’s Sarah Burton in blocked shots.

Against English Valleys, Ford had a monster game. She made 6-of-10 shots, had 3 steals and a blocked shot.

“I thought Alyson did a really nice job on their bigs,” Shelman said.

Shelman was also pleased with the scoring balance and ball movement the Lions displayed.

“Our girls, they all do a good job,” he said. “They’re all unselfish. There’s a lot of opportunities today in transition where our girls shared the basketball and that’s really nice to see as a coach.”

Lone Tree 63,

Cedar Valley Christian 7

The Lions scored the first 27 points of the game and rolled to a nonconference win in the Dec. 7 game played at Lone Tree.

Lone Tree’s Finley Jacque scored a game-high 24 points and had 5 steals.

Senior guard Avery Lisk had 10 steals as the Lions piled up 35 steals against the winless Huskies.

Vivian Zaruba had a game-high 8 rebounds.

Lone Tree 58,

Hillcrest 14

The Lions started quickly in a Dec. 5 SEISC game against Hillcrest Academy. They scored 34 points in the first half while holding the Ravens to 8 points and then cruised to their eighth straight win against Hillcrest.

Lone Tree sophomore Finley Jacque scored a game-high 20 points.

Lions guard Vivian Zaruba had a game-high 7 steals as Lone Tree’s defense smothered the Ravens. Hillcrest had 31 turnovers.

Rylee Shield added 8 points and 5 rebounds for Lone Tree.

Claire Withrow and Malia Yoder each scored 6 points for Hillcrest.

GAME STATS

LONE TREE 55, ENGLISH VALLEYS 42

English Valleys   8    11     16     7   --  42

Lone Tree          18   10     18      9   --  55

Lone Tree scoring: Finley Jacque 16, Alyson Ford 13, Vivian Zaruba 12, Ava Christofferson 6, Avery Lisk 3, Rylee Shield 3, Cate Sexton 2.

LONE TREE 63, CEDAR VALLEY CHRISTIAN 7

CV Christian   2     0     1     4   --  7

Lone Tree     27   12   18    6   --  63

Lone Tree scoring: Finley Jacque 24, Ava Christofferson 9, Vivian Zaruba 7, Avery Lisk 6, Rylee Shield 6, Alyson Ford 2, Cate Sexton 2, Abby Zaruba 2, Sami Branson 2, Maddi Floyd 2, Hayden Yoder 1.

LONE TREE 58, HILLCREST 14

Hillcrest        5     3     2    4   --  14

Lone Tree   14   20   16    8   --  58

Hillcrest scoring: Claire Withrow 6, Malia Yoder 6, Delaney Shaw 2.

Lone Tree scoring: Finley Jacque 20, Rylee Shield 8, Cate Sexton 7, Vivian Zaruba 6, Alyson Ford 5, Delanie Graap 5, Ava Christofferson 4, Bailey McGrew 2, Haley Bockelman 1.

Hillcrest leading rebounders: Shaw 10, Yoder 5.

Lone Tree leading rebounders: Ford 6, Shield 5, Sexton 5, Zaruba 5.