FM girls win annual cross town over HTC

BY JOHN BOHNENKAMP
PCC SPORTS

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison’s girls basketball team scored 21 first-half points against Holy Trinity on Monday night.
The Bloodhounds surpassed that in the next eight minutes.
A dominant third quarter helped Fort Madison take control of the game on the way to a 57-42 win.
The Bloodhounds (14-4) outscored the Crusaders 22-2 in the quarter after trailing by two points at halftime.
“I think our intensity was down in the beginning,” said Fort Madison guard Malarie Ross, who scored 11 points in the quarter and finished with 21. “I think switching to a man-to-man defense really helped us, too.

“We talked at halftime about how our intensity was low and our defense was bad, and we had to change that.”
Holy Trinity (10-11) did not have a field goal in the quarter — the only two points came from free throws from Natalie Randolph with 2:50 left.
“We turned the ball over too much,” Holy Trinity coach Tony Johnson said. “We tried to make too many long passes, we got frustrated because nothing was coming easy, and we just turned the ball over too much.”
Holy Trinity started strong. The Crusaders opened the game with a 9-2 run and led most of the half before Fort Madison tied the game at 21 on Anna Lynk’s 3-pointer. Holy Trinity, though, got the lead back right before halftime on two free throws by Teagan Snaadt.
Then the Bloodhounds took over.
“We lost our rhythm,” Johnson said. “We started forcing stuff.”
Holy Trinity had a similar offensive struggle in Friday’s 46-44 loss to Highland, when the Crusaders scored just four second-quarter points.
“It just seems like we have games where we have a quarter where we get out of sync, and whether we call timeouts or put somebody new out there, it doesn’t seem to change it,” Johnson said. “We just get into a funk.”
Irelynd Sargent had nine points for the Bloodhounds. Lynk and Camille Kruse each had eight points.
Randolph had 17 points for the Crusaders. Mary Kate Bendlage had 14.
Holy Trinity opens Class 1A regional play with Thursday’s first-round home game against New London.
“New season,” Johnson said. “That’s what I just told them. You build up all year, you get your seed, and then you play Thursday night. It’s all you can do.”
Fort Madison had two regular-season games remaining before opening Class 4A regional play.
“I feel like we came into this game overconfident, and I think that showed we can’t do that in any other game the rest of the season,” Ross said.