Lady Hounds can't stay hot in loss to No. 7 Nikes

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - It wasn't the game Fort Madison Head Coach Tony Sargent wanted to play Saturday, but it almost ended up being the result he wanted.

The Lady Hounds made a bid to knock of Class 1A No. 7 Burlington Notre Dame Saturday in the Hound Dome carrying a 44-40 lead into the 4th quarter, with junior Camille Kruse, the Hounds' second highest scorer riding the bench with four fouls.

But the Nikes got hot down the stretch and the Hounds went cold as Notre Dame went on a 13-2 run to end the game and roll to a 53-46 win in a non-conference matchup.

"I don't want to take anything away from them, I really don't, but I think that was our game," Sargent said, "If Camille wouldn't have got that hustle foul in the 3rd quarter - if we could have kept her in the game we were ahead by six. Then it just seemed like 'Man, I can't win without her'."

Fort Madison's Anna Lynk gets screened out by Burlington Notre Dame's Gabby Deery (10) in the first half of the Nikes' 53-46 win over the Lady Hounds Saturday afternoon in Fort Madison. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

With Kruse playing sparingly through the second and third periods and Fort Madison trailing 26-19 at the half Junior Irelynd Sargent, who was 0-11 from the 3-point arc, went a little crazy from about 20 feet burying two 3-balls from the left side in front of the Fort Madison student section, to spark a 9-4 Hound rally,

Senior Malarie Ross, who finished with a game-high 24, got a little breather with Sargent finding the range. Ross got free on the right side for a 3-ball, too, and then after a Hound stop at the Nike end, Ross converted inside in transition to tie the game at 30.

The lead would go back and forth for a few possessions with the Nikes' Megan Harrell and Abby Korschgen adding three freethrows and Ross connecting on another 3-ball to tie things at 33. Notre Dame's Lauren Krieger laced a three-pointer in the next possession and Ross countered with a drive in the lane.

Gabby Deery would score in the paint for Notre Dame on the ensuing trip down the floor and then, with :10 left in the third, Sargent hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter to tie things again at 38.

Taylor Johnson opened the fourth with a three from the left wing, only her second of the season, and Ross would add a 3 of her own after a Hound defensive stop to put Fort Madison up by six 44-38.

Fort Madison wouldn't be able to hold onto the momentum, however, and missed nine of their next 10 shots allowing Notre Dame to fight back, keyed by back-to-back three balls from Reagan Engberg and Krieger to take a 45-44 lead.

Kruse would come back in carrying four fouls with 3:23 left in the game and couldn't get back into rhythm as she and Ross missed back-to-back while Krieger and Deery added a bucket each.

The Hounds then went into foul mode and couldn't keep the ball from the Nikes' Harrell who cleaned things up with four straight from the freethrow line. Harrell was 9-of-10 on the night from the line.

"No. 1, you don't want to foul her. I said don't guard the ball and double up Megan and let somebody else get the ball, well, guess what," Sargent said.

He said the Hounds kept getting caught with the ball in the corners and got out of balance.

"The biggest problem, other than foul trouble, was we kept trying to take the ball to the corners and penetrate from there, and then were just losing it all the time," he said.

"I wanted to keep the ball out of the corners, and we just kept throwing it there and that's the way it went," he said.

But he said he got quality production from the bench including Taylor Johnson and Molly Knipe.

"I got great minutes from Taylor and Molly. I thought they played well. And I thought Aija Jenkins did a great job rebounding tonight. She's getting more confidence and being more aggressive."

Ross led Fort Madison with 24 points on the night. Sargent had nine.

Fort Madison (10-4) is off until Thursday when they travel to Centerville and then play back-to-back on Friday and Saturday hosting Washington and then Davenport West.

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