When the dust had settled Saturday on the Jefferson County North girls’ 50-30 win over KC Christian in the championship game of the Delaware Valley League Preseason Basketball Tournament in Oskaloosa, head coach Steve Noll didn’t focus on the fact the win marked his 100th varsity victory.
He was happy to focus on his team’s second straight DVL Tourney title instead.
The Chargers used a mix of strong pressure defense and tenacious rebounding to rack up a 12-2 second quarter that gave them all the room they needed for the 20-point win.
North dominated the Panthers on the boards, with a 27-10 advantage in rebounds in the first half and a 47-23 advantage overall. The Chargers also forced 25 turnovers while committing only 15 themselves.
The win capped a tournament run that saw the Chargers rout Immaculata and come back from a double-digit deficit to beat the host Oskaloosa Bears in the semifinals.
The Panthers stayed close in the first quarter and led midway through on a 3-pointer by senior Sarah Hawthorne. JCN regained the lead on a turnaround jumper by junior Mallory GrandPre and, after a steal by senior Devin Gigstad, junior Sara Navinskey drilled a 3-pointer to make it 12-8 North. After a jumpball gave the ball back to North, GrandPre scored on a lay-in to make it 14-8 and force a KCC timeout. North stretched the lead to 16-9 but Hawthorne hit another 3-pointer and North settled for a 17-12 lead entering the second quarter.
JCN cranked up the full-court pressure defense in the second quarter and it paid off, as 3 points by senior Amelia Noll stretched the Charger lead to 8. The Panthers didn’t get their first point of the quarter until the 5:01 mark and they wouldn’t hit a field goal attempt in the quarter. JCN ended the quarter on a 7-2 run to take a 29-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
JCN’s 17-rebound advantage in the first half continued to hold true in the third quarter as North grabbed two offensive rebounds on its first possession of the half. On the Chargers’ next possession, senior Lisa Weishaar hit a 3-pointer that made the score 33-14 JCN. A Gigstad lay-in off an Amelia Noll pass pushed the lead to 21 and reached 22 at its peak before a late KCC score cut it to 40-20 entering the fourth quarter.
North held the line in the fourth quarter as Steve Noll cleared the bench with his team up 20 and about 5 minutes left in the game. The bench extended the lead to 23 but Hawthorne hit a final 3-pointer to make the final score 50-30 JCN.
Gigstad led the way for JCN with 13 points and finished just shy of a double-double with 9 rebounds. Amelia Noll and GrandPre finished with 7 points each and grabbed 7 and 8 rebounds, respectively. Freshman Jordan Kramer also had 7 rebounds for North. KCC was led by Hawthorne’s 9 points and 6 rebounds from junior Danielle Trott.
Noll said the only person who knew the game would be his 100th varsity win was his wife, and he said with a laugh he was hoping she would have kept the fact under her hat.
“That other stuff doesn’t really matter,” he said. North moved to 4-0 with the win. “I was really wanting to win two tournaments in a row, though. We expected them to come out a lot more aggressively than they did. We got down a bit coming out of the chute versus Oskaloosa but we need to start coming out at the start like we did today. We had three goals coming in – contest every shot, keep the pressure on them and control the boards – and I thought we did all of those things. Devin hit the boards really well for us. For the most part I’m pleased with everybody today. We’ll enjoy tonight and tomorrow and come back Monday ready to practice. It was a whole team effort today.”
In other county action, Oskaloosa defeated Horton, 42-41, for third place and McLouth defeated Jackson Heights, 62-56, for fifth place. Valley Falls placed 10th with a 40-35 loss to Troy in the ninth place game.
Oskaloosa boys defeat Valley Falls for fifth
On the boys’ side, the top county game came down to the fifth-place matchup between the host Bears and the Valley Falls Dragons, which Oskaloosa took by a 47-44 count.
Both teams entered with a 2-2 record on the season. Oskaloosa fell to Wathena in the first round while Valley Falls lost to eventual tourney champion KC Christian in the quarterfinals. Oskaloosa bounced back to win a tight game over JCN in the consolation semifinals while Valley Falls outlasted Horton by 4 points to set up the intracounty rivalry game for fifth.
The first half was nip-and-tuck as the teams traded scores throughout the first quarter to enter the second quarter tied at 12. Valley Falls got a 3-pointer from sophomore Alex Nottingham to open the scoring in the second quarter but the teams continued to stay close. The Bears took a 4-point lead with about 3 minutes left in the half but Dragons junior Riley Bunde hit a hook shot and senior Josh Kearney scored off a Bunde defensive rebound to tie the game. Nottingham hit a jumper to give the Dragons a 2-point lead with 1:20 left in the half but Bears sophomore Adam Bowser hit a 3-pointer with time dwindling to give Oskaloosa a 24-23 halftime lead.
Oskaloosa got some breathing room in the third quarter as the Bears started the half on a 6-point run to open up a 7-point lead. Dragons senior Ray Cook scored off a steal by junior Mitchell Streeter to get Valley Falls on the scoreboard with 4:34 to go in the quarter. The Dragons would have multiple chances to cut into the Bears’ lead, which held at 7 and became 9 on two free throws by senior post player Chase Tenpeny. The lead held there as the Bears took a 38-29 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Dragons wouldn’t go away, though, as senior T.J. Breese hit a 3-pointer to start the scoring in the fourth quarter and a Cook short jumper cut the lead to 6 with about 4:30 to go in the game. Nottingham scored off a steal and then hit two free throws on the Dragons’ next possession to cut it to 43-41 Bears with 2:28 left. Dragons senior Dylan McKnight scored off a Cook steal to tie the game with about a minute to play but Bears senior guard J.T. Thurston hit two free throws with 53 seconds left to give the lead back to Oskaloosa.
Kearney hit one of two free throws with 33 seconds left to cut the lead to 1 but Tenpenny hit two free throws on the other end with 16 seconds left to make it 47-44 Oskaloosa. The Bears had a chance to put the game away but Thurston missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw situation and Bunde pulled down the rebound with 4 seconds left and the Dragons called a quick timeout.
With 2.9 seconds left and the ball at three-quarter court, Nottingham inbounded the ball and Tenpenny knocked it out of bounds with 1.5 seconds left. Nottingham got the ball to Cook for a game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer but two Bears got over on defense and blocked the shot to secure the 47-44 win.
Oskaloosa was led by 18 points and 6 rebounds from Tenpenny and 10 points and 5 rebounds from Thurston. Valley Falls was led by 15 points and 8 rebounds from Bunde and 11 points from Nottingham. Cook added 7 points and 5 rebounds.
The game proved to be a tight one even in the stats as both teams grabbed 17 rebounds and Valley Falls had 14 turnovers compared to 11 for the Bears.
Bears coach Rod Stottlemire said his team had its hopes set on better than fifth place but he was happy overall with his team’s performance.
“We only have three kids that played varsity last year,” Stottlemire said. “We’re still trying to find ourselves a little bit out there. I’ve been a lot happier with our defense the last couple games. I think the tournament showed the league this year is really even. We got a little crazy with the ball there in the fourth quarter but we play too fast sometimes. If I can get them to play 90 percent fast rather than 110 percent fast, we do a lot better.”
In other county action, Horton routed JCN for seventh place, 76-42, and, in the 11th place game, Jackson Heights defeated McLouth, 59-46.
