Girls' Basketball: COMEBACK COMPLETE

By BRANDON HURLEY

Sports Editor
sports@beeherald.com

@BrandonJHurley

For a fleeting moment early in the regional quarterfinals, the Paton-Churdan girls basketball team stared down a potentially back-breaking drought.
Nothing seemed to work offensively, yet they still somehow found theirselves within striking distance.
A two-point opening quarter Feb. 18 against Glidden-Ralston barely even fazed the hometown Rockets.
They remained calm, eventually relying on a potent combination of ferocious defense and timely offense. In the end, the patience paid off, as Paton-Churdan rode a furious second half rally to complete an 11-point comeback, knocking off the Wildcats, 48-39 Tuesday, Feb. 18.
The Rockets (15-8) scored 35 second half points after putting up just 13 across the first 16 minutes, capitalizing on a defense that gave G-R absolute fits.  
Defense has been Paton-Churdan’s calling card during a successful run this winter. The Rockets are ranked second in the region 8 bracket, allowing opponents to score just 42.7 points per game. While they didn’t pile up a staggering number of steals or blocks Tuesday night (the Rockets produced four in each category for a total of eight), they continually swarmed the G-R ball-handlers, causing confusion and altering several shots throughout the night. The suffocating defense allowed Paton-Churdan to come away with 40 total rebounds, including a staggering 15 boards on the offensive end.
Sophomore Carmyn Paup came to play in the Regional quarterfinal, pouring in a game-high 24 points on seven-of-13 shooting from the field, nailing a team-best five-of-10 three-pointers. The guard also secured six rebounds and dished out four assists to go with a pair of steals. Tessa Steimel was her usual sharp-shooting self, nailing four three-pointers for 12 points while she dished out a team-high five points.
P-C’s leading scorer Danielle Hoyle (18.5 points per game) was held to just six points on three-of-10 shooting though the junior did manage to haul in six rebounds while recording all four of Paton-Churdan’s blocks.
The Rockets sprang into the lead for the first time Tuesday night thanks to a 20-point third quarter, 33-27, due in large part to a 24-7 run that began at the tail-end of the first half. P-C held G-R at bay in the fourth quarter as well, out-scoring the Wildcats 15-12.
Glidden-Ralston had P-C’s number early, sprinting out to a 7-0 first quarter lead, holding the Rockets scoreless for the first six and a half minutes of gameplay. P-C finally scored on an interior bucket with 75 seconds left in the opening frame. The victory was P-C’s third of the year over the Wildcats and the 15th overall, matching their highest win total since the 2013-14 season, when the Rockets were also 15-8. That P-C team was led by the magnificent Carleigh Paup, who led the Rockets in scoring at 22.8 points per game. They eventually fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard in postseason play.
This year’s squad has been tremendous from beyond the arc, as P-C has drilled the sixth-most three-pointers in Class 1A (142) at a rate of 32.7 percent. Steimel is 14th in the state with 50 made threes while Hoyle is yet again atop the state with 97 total blocks, a staggering average of 4.2 blocks per game. Steimel is also top 20 in Iowa in passing, having dished out 94 total assists (4.1 apg), which puts her 19th in 1A.
Paton-Churdan has quite the tough opponent standing in its way Friday, Feb. 21 in the Region 8 semifinals. Top-ranked defending state champion Newell-Fonda (22-0) will host the Rockets in Newell. The Mustangs have won 49 straight games dating back to the 2017-18 season. The 1A powerhouse has been victorious in 75 of their last 76 contests, while they also finished runner-up at the 2018 state tournament. Newell-Fonda has built an absolute dynasty, and poses quite the challenge for the 15-win Paton-Churdan girls.
Newell-Fonda has made the third most threes in Iowa (178) at a startling rate of 35.7 percent. They average 77.7 points per game, by far the most prolific mark in Iowa, nailing 49 percent of their shots, also the top percentage in the state. Defensively, the Mustangs are incredibly stout as well. They’ve swiped a Iowa-best 443 steals. Newell-Fonda is incredibly balanced scoring, led by three athletes who average at least 10 points per game and four others scoring at clip of more than five points per game.
Macy Sievers leads the Mustangs at 14.3 points per game. She’s drilled 64 percent of her shots while having nailed 22 three-pointers at a 41 percent clip. Three Mustang shooters are averaging 40 percent or better from three.
Friday’s tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Newell, with the winner advancing to the regional final against either Woodbury Central or Cam Feb. 26.