Lady Hounds riding five-game win streak

FORT MADISON - Fort Madison girls basketball coach Landon Bentley was so impressed with the way Ajia Jenkins was playing defense on one of the state’s best players, he didn’t notice what she was doing on the offensive end of the court.

Jenkins scored 22 points in the Bloodhounds’ 58-48 win over Burlington on Friday night, but it was her defense, along with her teammates, on BHS guard Mylee Stiefel that made the biggest difference in the game.

Stiefel, who ranks 11th in the state in scoring at 22.1 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with just 10 points, all coming in a 2 ½-minute stretch of the third quarter.

“Ajia Jenkins, we put the ball in her hands and had her guarding Stiefel,” Bentley said. “Man, (Stiefel is) a heck of a ballplayer. We held her to zero in the first half. Then she comes out and hits ‘Stiefel shots’ in the second half, and that’s OK.

“I’m so proud of Ajia. I didn’t realize she had 20-plus points because of the way she was playing defense. So tenacious.”

Jenkins said it was a collective effort.

“We just all had to communicate a lot,” Jenkins said. “We had to communicate where Stiefel was. I think we locked her down on defense. She had zero at halftime, so I thought we did a really good job as a team.

“Really, I just wanted to lock down on defense. I wanted to face-guard her. A lot of it was the team communicating with me on screens, and helped me hedge screens to get back.”

Fort Madison (10-2 overall, 5-1 Southeast Conference) has won five consecutive games since a 47-39 loss to the Grayhounds (6-8, 3-4) in December.

It’s why the Bloodhounds’ bench was boisterous from the beginning of the game, as Fort Madison’s defense helped ignite a 25-6 start that included a run of 15 consecutive points.

“They got us last time, and they earned that win,” Bentley said. “They punched us in the mouth, they brought that energy, they were all over us. Tonight, I said every single person had a role in this game. We understand now that every single person on this team matters, no more than any other one. Every ounce of energy, every ounce of effort matters.”

“I thought the energy we had tonight was great,” Jenkins said. “It was one of the best crowds we have had this season, our bench was loud. This was probably the best energy we’ve had.”

Fort Madison was up 42-17 when Stiefel’s eruption began. The Grayhounds got to within 10 points twice midway through the fourth quarter, but Irelynd Sargent scored on a layup then Dayonna Davis hit a 3-pointer to end the threat.

Davis finished with 10 points. Sargent and Hadley Wolfe each added eight.