Lady Hounds lose crusher at BHS

BURLINGTON — Landon Bentley’s clap of frustration echoed through the hallway.
Fort Madison’s 39-37 loss to Burlington in Wednesday’s Class 4A Region 4 quarterfinal was just a couple of minutes old, but it was the one the Bloodhounds’ coach said would linger with him and his team for a while.
“This score will be on our chalkboard, on our marker board, for the next year,” Bentley said.
The Bloodhounds (13-7) did almost everything that they had planned on doing in this game, and fell short.
Hadley Wolfe’s putback off Dayonna Davis’ long-range miss with two seconds left, a shot that would have tied the game, rolled off the rim as time ran out, leaving the Bloodhounds feeling like this was one that got away.
“The girls, they work really, really hard for moments like this,” Bentley said. “There’s nothing to hang their heads about. They took some really great shots at the end of the game, and those are the people I want to take those shots.”
Fort Madison finished two games behind Burlington (16-5) in the Southeast Conference standings, and the Bloodhounds spent the last couple of weeks of the regular season motivated by a 51-47 loss to the Grayhounds that proved costly in the conference title chase.
The Bloodhounds had a 35-32 lead with 2:55 to play after Halle Menke’s shot inside. Burlington then scored the next six points — two field goals by Mylee Stiefel and a jumper by Daphne Brown — to go in front 38-35.
Bentley then drew up a play out of a timeout that got Menke an open 3-pointer from the left side, but the shot rolled off.
“We had Halle set a back screen for Dayonna, knowing they would overplay,” Bentley said. “And Halle took a great shot. She makes those in practice.”

Stiefel hit the second of two free throws after being fouled with 19 seconds left, then Wolfe scored with 10 seconds left to get Fort Madison within 39-37. The Bloodhounds fouled Kylee Hill on the inbounds play, but Hill missed both free throws. Davis got the rebound and raced down court, putting up a long 3-pointer with five seconds left that hit off the rim. Wolfe got the rebound and put up a shot, but it, too, missed, and the Bloodhounds’ season was over.
Fort Madison opened the game with a 7-0 run, holding the Grayhounds without a point until Brown’s shot inside with seven seconds left in the first quarter.
Bentley would have liked to have gotten some more distance out of that quarter.
“The story of the year for us has been our defense,” Bentley said. “But the story of the year has also been turnovers. And it may be a first quarter one, but those can affect the fourth quarter.”
The Grayhounds got nothing from Stiefel, their leading scorer at 18.7 points per game in the first half, as Wolfe held her scoreless.
“That’s Hadley Wolfe,” Bentley said.
But Burlington got eight first-half points from Vanessa Woodsmall and six from Hill, and the two teams were tied at 16 at halftime.
Stiefel got going in the second half, scoring 14 points, but the Bloodhounds countered with Menke, who finished with 15 points.
“She is ferocious,” Bentley said of Menke. “But it's a clip of showing what she can be and what she's going to aspire to be next year. And even more, she's a gym rat. And, you know those kids, they get better.”
The Bloodhounds only lose one senior, Katelyn Sissel.
“Everyone else is returning,” Bentley said. “God has plans. We believe that. Our team believes that. Tonight, it wasn't in the cards for us, but we can only hope that He’s planning something much bigger for us. And this could just be a piece to that puzzle, fuel to that fire.”