Ram varsity girls extend conference record to 5-1

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

Greene County’s varsity girls basketball team added two conference wins to their record this past week, but fell to the highly regarded Perry Jayettes in a non-conference battle.

The squad hosted Collins-Maxwell/Baxter on December 13 and won 52-44. As a team, Greene County was successful on 40 percent of their shots from the field, made six of 13 free throws, and swished the net with four of eight 3-point goals. Kayla Mobley led the team in scoring with 16 points, but Stacy Mears stepped up her offense to add 10 points, and Hannah Onken contributed nine. Marissa Promes grabbed seven rebounds while Jolee Wessling and Mobley each pulled down five.

The Rams had difficulty stopping Raider player Abbie Haupert who led all players with 22 points. Every time it looked like the Rams had the game wrapped up, Haupert would make two or three quick baskets to keep her team within striking distance.

“We had a nice spurt at the end to hold them off,” said coach Chad Morton. “I was glad to see Stacy hit some shots and gain some confidence. Kayla’s conditioning really paid off in that fourth quarter when she still had enough energy to score seven of her 16 points. I thought CMB really played well and pushed us the entire night.”

On December 14, the Rams hosted Perry who is ranked fourth in 4A. The Jayettes were impressive scoring 30 points in the second quarter alone. Perry’s Claire Marburger led all scorers with 24 points, and Maggie Lowe added 17 to their total. “Those two players are very good and very difficult to guard,” said coach Chad Morton. Marburger came into the contest averaging 21 points per game, making 50 percent of her shots from the field and 61 percent of her free throws. Lowe is averaging 13 points per game and is hitting 42 percent of her shots from 3-point range. The Ram team was held to 28 percent shooting and had 15 more turnovers than the Jayettes. “Perry forced a lot of turnovers with their press,” said coach Morton. “We tried some new things on offense, and those things may be more successful with teams in our conference. We don’t have a team in our conference that could match up with Perry.”

Greene County got back on track when they traveled to Jewell and defeated South Hamilton 60-52 on December 17. The Hawks came into the game with only one conference win, but they made the Rams work hard for the victory. The Hawks started out the first quarter by hitting their first five shots including one three point goal and took a 9-0 lead. Greene County did storm back to tie the game at 15 by the end of the quarter and led 33-29 at the half. The Rams owned the third quarter scoring 13 and holding the Hawks to four points and made 14 points in the final quarter to hold off the home team. For those present, this game will be remembered for the 45 fouls that were whistled and the length of the game which exceeded 90 minutes. Neither team took care of the ball very well, so the combined turnover total for night was over 50, but teams will take road wins whenever and however they can get them. Hannah Onken led the Ram offense with 13 points. Emily Christensen was also in double figures with 10. Onken also led the team in rebounds with eight, but Mobley was close behind with seven despite getting into foul trouble in the first half and spending considerable time on the bench.

“Hannah looked to score whenever she got the ball, and Jolee did a good job handling the ball and driving to the basket. When there are a lot of fouls called, free throw shooting is very important. We need to improve in that area,” said coach Morton after the game.

Gr. Co.  20   34   40   52
CMB     11    26   36   44
Greene County (52) Scoring- Kayla Mobley 6 4-5 16, Stacy Mears 4 0-0 10, Hannah Onken 4 1-2 9, Marissa Promes 3 0-0 6, Tressa Rasmussen 2 0-0 5, Emily Christensen 1 0-0 3, Jolee Wessling 1 1-6 3. Rebounds- Promes 7, Wessling 5, Mobley 5. Mears 3, Onken 3, Emma Saddoris 2, Thea Ballard 2, Rasmussen 2, Allie Stoline 1. Assist leaders- Christensen 3, Wessling 3, Steals- Mobley 3, Onken 2,Wessling 2, Saddoris 2. 3-point goals- Mears 2, Rasmussen 1, Christensen 1.
CMB (44) Scoring- Abbie Haupert 8 6- 8 22, Mikayla Eslinger 3 2-4 8, Lexi Breen 3 2-2 8. Megan Ritter 1 0-0 3, MacKenzie Schmitz 1 0-0 2.

Gr. Co.   4   18   25   31  
Perry    11   41   56   63
Gr. Co. (31) Scoring- Kayla Mobley 3 4-4 10, Hannah Onken 3 1-2 7, Emily Christensen 1 1-2 4, Stacy Mears 1 0-0 3, Thea Ballard 1 0-1 2, Marissa Promes 1 0-0 2, Tressa Rasmussen 0 2-2 2, Emma Saddoris 0 1-2 1.  
Perry (63) Scoring- Claire Marburger 9 6-6 24, Maggie Lowe 7 0-0 17, Grace Marburger 2 3-6 7, Julie Dui 1 3-4 6, Ann Marckres 2 0-0 4, Victoria Hegstrom 0 1-2 1.   

Gr. Co.  15   33   46   60
SH         15   29   33   52
Gr. Co. (60) Scoring- Hannah Onken 5 3-10 13, Emily Christensen 3 3-4 10,  Kayla Mobley 1 7-9 9, Jolee Wessling 4 0-0 8, Tressa Rasmussen 1 4-4 6, Allie Stoline 2 0-0 5, Thea Ballard 1 1-2 3, Stacy Mears 1 0-0 2. Rebounds- Onken 8, Mobley 7,Rasmussen 4, Marissa Promes 3, Wessling 3. Assists- Rasmussen 5. Blocks- Promes 4. 3-point goals Stoline 1, Christensen 1.
SH  (52) Scoring- Kaitlin Fisher 7 1-3 15, Savanna Stangeland 5 3-6 13, Allyson Ervin 3 0-0 8, Kayla Monthei 1 2-4 5, Kayla Lucas 1 2-2 4, Kali Lucas 1 1-2 3, Carly Swenson 1 0-0 3.