Scoring droughts hampered the Panther girls (4-13) Monday against visiting Clarke (9-6) as they fell 80-52 in non-conference play.
Despite being up by two at the end of the first quarter and down only five at the half, the Indians went on a 20-0 scoring run to start the second half, opening up a 54-29 lead before the Panthers made a bucket.
“It’s a pretty simple formula,” Creston coach Tony Neubauer said. “We have to learn to put four quarters of basketball together. Our Achilles heel in January is that we will play well for the better part of three quarters, then have a quarter where we play terribly.”
Sophomore Brynn Tussey was a bright spot for the Panthers, putting together a double-double in her best game of the year. She led Creston with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Kadley Bailey put up 11 points in the loss while Hollynn Rieck and Ava Adamson each added eight.
For Clarke, the Henry twins were on fire — Alissa logging 32 points and Victoria adding 17. Another senior, Madisyn McCoy also had 17 in a difficult trio to defend.
“I told the kids last night that we’re young, but we’re not inexperienced anymore, being 17 games into the season,” Neubauer said. “We did some really nice things in the first half at times, but we had a lot of unforced turnovers that directly led to Clarke points.”
The Panthers turned the ball over 19 times and made only 33.9% of shots from the field compared to 45.6% by Clarke.
The Panthers’ 14 fouls turned into 17 points for the Indians as they shot 94.4% from the line. Rieck was in foul trouble early for the Panthers, getting her fourth in the first half.
“There is no magic formula for us,” Neubauer said. “We have to put four quarters of consistent basketball together. We’re going to work hard in practice for the next two days and try to correct things that need to be corrected and try to play our best basketball on Thursday and Friday.”
The Panthers host Earlham Thursday and Red Oak on Friday.
CLARKE (80) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 26 17-18 80. Alissa Henry 13 4-5 32; Victoria Henry 4 9-9 17; Madisyn McCoy 5 2-2 17; Reese Shaw 2 2-2 8; Maisy McCoy 1 0-0 3; Ava Hagen 1 0-0 3. 3-point goals — 11 (Madisyn McCoy 5, Alissa Henry 2, Shaw 2, Maisy McCoy 1, Hagen 1). Team fouls — 18. Fouled out — Ashlyn Crawford.
CRESTON (52) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 20 9-15 52. Brynn Tussey 8 2-3 18; Kadley Bailey 3 4-8 11; Hollynn Rieck 3 1-1 8; Ava Adamson 3 1-2 8; Ella Turner 2 1-1 5; Alyssa Gerdes 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 3 (Rieck 1, Adamson 1, Bailey 1). Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.