Wolfe's 25 leads Hounds to season-opening win

FORT MADISON – Fort Madison senior Hadley Wolfe picked up right where she left off last season.
Wolfe poured in 25 points as Fort Madison opened the year with a 58-45 win over Ottumwa, avenging a season-opening overtime loss in 2024 at Ottumwa.
The senior shot 11 of 24 from the field and converted 4-of-6 freethrows down the stretch to help seal the win for the Hounds (1-0, 0-0).
The Bulldogs opened a quick 6-4 lead, but an 18-footer from the left wing by Wolfe tied things up and the Bloodhounds never trailed again.
Wolfe and fellow senior Halle Menke worked a nice give-n-go set when the Hounds got into the half-court for most of the night. Ottumwa struggled to contain both the seniors on the right side of the offense, while fellow senior Dayonna Davis slashed in regularly from the left side.
Menke would score in the second quarter on an inside move, and then Wolfe would score the next four points off steals to give Fort Madison its largest first half lead at 22-15. Ottumwa would miss on their next two possessions and Wolfe would answer again to stretch the lead to nine at 24-15. The two teams would trade buckets the rest of the half with Fort Madison holding a 28-20 lead at the break.
Davis and Wolfe would open the 3^rd quarter scoring to give Fort Madison a 12-point lead, but then the Hounds would go cold from the field, missing their next eight shots before Davis would break the drought with a bucket on a drive from the right side. Ottumwa would cut the lead to seven before Davis’ bucket.
Fort Madison held a nine-point lead headed into the fourth quarter. Molly Schulte would get a bucket to start things, but then the Bulldogs’ Emma Ryder hit a 3-ball and another bucket after a defensive stop to cut the lead to 40-36 with 5:47 left.
Ryder, just a freshman, then blocked a shot by Wolfe at the other end, but Ottumwa couldn’t answer. Then Wolfe scored seven consecutive points while the Bulldogs missed seven straight shots before a timeout down by 11 47-36. Menke picked up her fifth foul on a quick whistle during that exchange.
Out of the timeout, Davis swiped an Ottumwa pass and went the distance and missed a layup that Fort Madison Head Coach Landon Bentley thought she was fouled on. On the rebound, the Hounds were called for a foul causing Bentley to get not one, but two, technical fouls and was shown the door. Bentley will have to sit out Tuesday’s game at home for the infraction.
Junior Alli Goedken made three of the four freebies to cut the lead to eight, but Schulte would answer to make it 49-39 with 2:16 left.

Ottumwa would have to go into foul mode and the Hounds hit eight of 12 freethrows down the stretch to seal the win.
Bentley said he had a quick reaction to the foul after Menke was called for her fifth.
“I heard the smack on Dayonna and I think I had a couple of times. But I let my emotions get the best of me and I shouldn’t have done that,” he said.
Wolfe’s play is something that Bentley said he feels will be more the norm this year.
“She’s been getting some college looks, and I think that’ll be what you see from her more often this year. She’s confident in herself and, if she gets cold, we’ll let her shoot out of it,” he said.
Wolfe said she’s just trying to do what the team needs from her night in and night out early this season.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting to score like that, I just came out to do whatever my team needed me to do. Last year, we lost by a last-second shot that I missed, and that’s stuck around with me,” Wolfe said.
Bentley said the game was a physical game and he was proud of the way his girls hung in there inside.
 “Tonight, we had everybody and I felt like we matched the physicality. Ottumwa is 5A so they’re a bigger school and we kind of expected that, but those freshmen have played a lot of basketball and they’re going to be really good over the next couple years,” he said.
The Bloodhounds got 15 points from Davis and eight from Molly Schulte. Reilynn Turnbull and Menke each added four points. Ryder led Ottumwa with 15 points.
Fort Madison will host the Assumption Knights beginning in a 7:30 p.m. varsity stint Tuesday night before taking the holiday off and resuming play Dec. 5.