Three Marion County basketball Squads took to the Wells Fargo Arena floor on Saturday and two of them came away with wins as Knoxville took two from Newton 53-38 in the girls game and 57-54 in comeback fashion in the boys game, heard live on 95.3 KNIA, while the Twin Cedars girls fell to I-35 50-31. Starting with the Panthers, the girls got off to their second slow start in as many games Saturday after falling behind 10-3 to start, the Panthers clawed back and went to a match-up zone defense that frustrated Newton for the remainder of the game. Maggie Wilkins scored a career high 28 points to lead Knoxville who goes to 8-1 on the season. Coach Jim Uitermarkt told KRLS Sports after going to a newly installed matchup zone defense early on, his girls responded by limiting Newton the remainder of the game.
Uitermarkt:
“Our change of defense was really big today, and our girls did a great job of running the zone we played. I’m really glad they’re quick learners because we have really been working on that the last couple days of break and running it well was a game changer for us today.”
The boys, like the girls, fell behind early and seemed to be on a course to get blown out. Trailing by 16 points at the half the Panthers came out in the second half with renewed energy and stormed back to beat the Cardinals 57-to-54 as Ben Olsen made two clutch free throws with ten-seconds remaining to provide the final margin. Kieren Nichols, who himself got off to a slow start, scored 25 points, 17 in the second half to lead Knoxville, who is now 7-1. Coach Jeff Larson told KRLS Sports they wanted to speed up Newton in the second half by pressuring the ball.
Larson:
“We wanted to speed them up a little bit, and their guards handled the ball well number 1 and 13 handle it really well and they made some shots in the first half we didn’t plan on them making and they didn’t in the second half. Our intensity was better in the second half, we got a hand in their face and just did an overall better job in the second half. I told the kids after the game, I’m proud of them even if they had lost, it’s not wins and loses and about coming out and competing.”
Both Knoxville squads will head to Centerville on Tuesday with the girls playing the Reddetts for first place in the South Central Conference. The Twin Cedars girls got off to a good start leading I-35 9-6 after one quarter, but the Roadrunners started pressuring the Sabers causing turnovers and Twin Cedars fell behind by double figures by halftime. Chloe Swank led the Sabers with 13 points, who will play Lamoni on Tuesday.