LONE TREE

Fresh out the gate from the holiday break, the Lady Lions and Ravens clashed for the first time this season with both teams aiming to start this new year on the winning side.

Picking up its sixth-straight win, Lone Tree (8-2) dominated defensively in the second half to cruise to a 67-36 victory over conference foe Hillcrest (5-5) on Jan. 4.

“I think we came out a little flat in our first game back after the winter break, but our girls really responded.” Lone Tree head coach Ryan Shelman said. “Hillcrest is a very tough team and they kept coming at us, but our girls in the last three quarters really picked up the intensity and got after their playmakers.”

Lone Tree’s defensive effort was the key to its victory. After giving up 22-points in the first quarter, the Lady Lions limited the Ravens to 14-points total for the rest of the contest.

The intensity the Lady Lions displayed on defense led to 19 steals, overall scoring 32 points off turnovers. Lone Tree also excelled on the boards, out rebounding Hillcrest by 10.

“Rylee Shield really stood out to me defensively, she did a great job on [Claire] Withrow who is one of the premiere shooters in the state of Iowa,” coach Shelman said. “Our girls also did a great job of turning our defense into offensive transition points in the second half.”

It was a consistent scoring night for Lone Tree as they put up 14 or more points in all four quarters. Finley Jacque scored 23, a season high, to lead the team in the win. Other double-digit scorers were Cate Sexton (15) and Vivian Zaruba (10).   

“I think Finley played great and she is capable of that kind of performance night in and night out,” coach Shelman said. “The really great thing is we are getting contributions and balanced scoring from a lot of different girls and that makes us tougher to defend and takes pressure off any one girl.”

For Hillcrest they were led by a 19-point performance by Niva Helmuth with fellow junior Claire Withrow adding 13.

Up next for Lone Tree (8-2) is a pivotal road conference rematch against Columbus (9-2) on Jan. 10 and up next for Hillcrest (5-5) is a home conference matchup against Highland (7-3) on Jan. 10.

HILLCREST 36, LONE TREE 67

Hillcrest    22    9     2    4   --  36

Lone Tree  14   14   24   15  -- 67

Hillcrest leading scorers: Niva Helmuth 19, Claire Withrow 13, Lydia Beachy 3

Lone Tree leading scorers: Finley Jacque 23, Cate Sexton 15, Vivian Zaruba 10

Hillcrest leading rebounders: Delaney Shaw 10, Helmuth 5, Malia Yoder 3

Lone Tree leading rebounders: Rylee Shield 10, Zaruba 9, Sexton 7