The McLouth Bulldog varsity girls’ basketball team made up for a lackluster first half Friday with a doozy of a second half as they overcame cross-county rival Oskaloosa, 56-52, in Oskaloosa.
The Bulldogs were down 8 at the half but turned up both the offense and defense in the second half to overcome a decided 39-22 rebounding advantage for Oskaloosa in the game.
The key was some scoring output from sources other than McLouth senior standout guard Missy Rome, although Rome made her presence felt in the second half as well. Sophomore guards Morgan Drinnon and Terri Stewart chipped in offensively while senior forward Kylie Shufflebarger had 6 fourth-quarter points to help the Bulldogs to victory.
The game started out all Oskaloosa as the Bears ran off the first 8 points of the game and the Bulldogs were still scoreless at the 4-minute mark of the quarter. Stewart put an end to that with McLouth’s first score with 3:34 left and the Bulldogs began the short climb back into the game. Stewart drilled a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left to cut the Bear lead to 3 and, after a 3-point play by Bears junior guard Hailey Kelly, Drinnon hit a 3-pointer with time dwindling to cut the Bears’ lead to 13-10 entering the second quarter.
Again, McLouth’s offense sputtered as the Bears built the lead to 9 points by scoring the first 6 points of the quarter. And again, the McLouth offense went scoreless until Rome hit 2 free throws with 3:55 left in the half. The Bears’ lead reached 11 late in the half before Drinnon sank another late 3-pointer to cut the halftime lead to 25-17 Oskaloosa.
Both offenses came out firing in the second half as the teams combined for four 3-pointers in the first 4 minutes. The Bears stretched the lead to 12 early but Drinnon nailed her third 3-pointer of the game. Bears sophomore guard Haley Pfau answered with a 3-pointer at the other end but Stewart hit a baseline 3 to cut the Bears’ lead to 8 with 6:18 left in the quarter. Stewart scored off a nice pass from Rome to cut the lead to 6 and Rome later cut the lead to 5 with a 3-pointer of her own. The lead continued to dwindle as Shufflebarger hit a free throw then Rome scored off an offensive rebound to cut the Oskaloosa lead to 2 at 35-33. The Bears were able to hold the lead at 4 as Drinnon hit 2 free throws but Kelly went coast-to-coast for a late layin to make the score 41-37 Bears entering the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs focused on working the ball inside to Shufflebarger throughout the game and, in the final period, the shots began to fall. She scored the Bulldogs’ first 5 points of the quarter and a Rome 3-pointer with 5:17 to play gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 45-43. A score from junior guard Logan Terry stretched the lead to 4 but senior Audrey Trowbridge scored off a Pfau pass and Kelly drilled a 3-pointer to give the Bears a 1-point lead with 3:28 to play. Terry answered with a 3-pointer and 2 Rome free throws made it 52-48 with 2:34 left.
Oskaloosa was unable to overcome the deficit as shots wouldn’t fall and the Bulldogs got rebounds when they needed them. The Bears had the ball down 3 with 23 seconds left but a long inbounds pass resulted in a turnover and Shufflebarger hit a free throw to make it a two-possession game for the Bears. Kelly missed 2 free throws but senior Kyra Coffman came up with an offensive rebound and hit both free throws after getting fouled. The Bulldogs would escape, however, as Rome took the inbounds pass and hit both free throws with 1.9 seconds left to give McLouth the 56-52 win.
Rome scored 18 points to lead the Bulldogs, with 14 points coming in the second half. Drinnon scored 13 points while Stewart added 11 points in the win. Shufflebarger finished with 9 points and also led the Bulldogs with 8 rebounds and 5 steals. Rome pulled down 6 rebounds with 3 steals.
Oskaloosa was led by 18 points from Pfau, who also grabbed 8 rebounds. Kelly added 16 points and 8 rebounds while Coffman pulled down 9 rebounds and senior Mallory Schmidt grabbed 7 boards.
The win improved McLouth’s record to 12-7 entering the regular season’s final week. The Bears fell to 10-6 but bounced back with a makeup shellacking of Wathena Saturday.
McLouth first-year coach Bob Good said his team benefitted from some close games this season, plus the players seem to step up their games in the second half.
“I told them (at halftime) we basically needed to get back on defense and be better at stopping their dribble penetration,” Good said. “Get back, stop the ball and rebound. I told them the shots would fall, we just need to keep doing what we’re doing on offense. They came on strong. Kylie came on late and the shots started falling. Morgan has grown up a lot this season and has gotten more physical with her game. Logan made a couple big shots for us. This team, for some reason, just has a different level of intensity in the fourth quarter. The game gets late and they get better. I like that demeanor.
“We’re working to get a home game that first round of substate. That’s our focus right now. We want to get down the road a little bit farther than they have (in recent seasons).”
Oskaloosa boys 44, McLouth 37
The boys game was a little bit of a mirror image of the girls’ contest as the Bulldogs established an early lead but couldn’t stop Bears junior guard Adam Bowser in the second half.
Bowser scored 17 second-half points as the Bears held on in the fourth quarter for the win. On the flip side, the Bears held McLouth leading scorer senior guard Cole Batman scoreless in the game to help their cause.
The teams got off to a slow start as it was 6-4 with 2:15 to play in the first quarter, but the Bulldogs finished the quarter on a 5-1 run as sophomore guard Shawn Dailey hit a 3-pointer to make it 11-5 McLouth entering the second quarter.
The Bears began to draw closer in the second quarter as senior Brandon Barnes hit a jumper to cut the lead to 11-9. Another Dailey 3-pointer helped the Bulldogs stay ahead but 2 Bowser free throws and a jumper from sophomore Adam Brien cut the lead back to 1 with 3:54 to play in the half. The scores sparked a 10-point Bears run as McLouth didn’t get back on the board until freshman Marc Walbridge hit a jumper with 1:20 left in the half to make the halftime score 19-16 Oskaloosa.
The Bulldogs hung around the lead in the third quarter as a Walbridge 3 tied the game at 22 with 3:55 left in the quarter. Bowser answered with a 3-pointer as the Bears were able to stretch the lead back to 5. Walbridge hit another 3-pointer with 37 seconds left to cut the Bear lead to 29-27 entering the fourth quarter.
The Bears couldn’t pull away from the Bulldogs until a Bowser 3-pointer and 2 Bowser free throws gave them a 6-point lead with just under 4 minutes left in the game. A 3-point play by McLouth sophomore Alen Kramer cut the lead back to 3 with 2:24 to play but the Bulldogs would get no closer. There was some late controversy as McLouth was in a must-foul situation late and junior guard Derek Wright was called for an intentional foul much to the dislike of Bulldog fans. The ensuing possession helped the Bears to a 6-pont lead and senior Adam Marshall got a key steal and hit a free throw with 14 seconds left to help the Bears to the 44-37 win.
Bowser added 7 rebounds to his 21 points to lead the Bears. Junior Braden McGinnis pulled down 7 rebounds as both teams had 24 rebounds in the game.
McLouth was led by 11 points from Walbridge and 9 points from Dailey. Sophomore forward Gavin Swearngin had 8 rebounds and junior forward Trevor Roberts had 6 rebounds.
Oskaloosa coach Rod Stottlemire said after several close losses this season, it was nice to see his team pull out a victory Friday.
“We’ve lost three overtime games and on a bank-in 3 at the buzzer, so any win we can pull off at the end is a good win,” Stottlemire said. “We’ve had a lot of close misses on the raod and the guys have worked real hard this season. McLouth is playing pretty well, so we’re happy to get the win. We’ve got to be more consistent on offense and step our free throws up a bit as well going into substate here.”
The Bears improved to 8-9 with the win while McLouth fell to 3-17. The Bears dropped their makeup game with Wathena Saturday to fall to 8-10.
