Cyclone girls drop three in a row

 HARLAN (Feb. 5) -- Continuing a busy final stretch to the regular season - six games in nine days - the Harlan Community girls basketball team lost three in a row vs. Glenwood, Sioux City East and St. Albert since last Friday, falling to 4-15 overall and 2-8 in the Hawkeye Ten.
 HCHS hosted Atlantic on Thursday and will close out the regular season Friday night at 10th-ranked (4A) Lewis Central. The Cyclone girls will open 4A regional play at Glenwood on Wednesday, February 13.
Glenwood 54, HCHS 33
 GLENWOOD -- Following a high-scoring first quarter in which it fell behind 22-16, HCHS struggled for offense the rest of the way last Friday and lost its conference finale to the 15th-ranked (4A) Rams 54-33.
 Glenwood, which stole the ball 20 times (eight by Brielle Smith), had four players score in double figures. HCHS was led by eight points from Wicks and six each for Caitlyn and Macie Leinen. The Cyclones shot just 29.3 percent overall.
Sioux City East 53, HCHS 33
 HARLAN -- Cold shooting and turnovers continued to plague the Cyclones at home Monday night in a 53-33 loss to Sioux City East.
 HCHS led 5-3 with 5:01 left in the first quarter before the Raiders scored the last 11 points of the period and never looked back. East led 24-12 at halftime, then nailed five third-quarter threes to make it a 43-20 advantage. Katlynn Tucker, a 52.4 percent three-point shooter, made 5-of-6 treys and led the Raiders (10-8) with 15 points as they snapped a five-game losing streak.
 Brecken Van Baale paced the Cyclones with nine points, followed by Caitlyn Leinen and Macie Leinen with six apiece.
St. Albert 54, HCHS 51
 HARLAN -- In a wild game featuring seven ties and 11 lead changes, HCHS broke 50 points for the first time since January 11 but came up short against the Saintes, 54-51, missing two potential game-tying threes in the final moments.
 Both teams made a run in the fourth quarter to set up a competitive finish. Chloe Hansen’s three-pointer put HCHS ahead 51-49 before Teagan Blackburn hit a free throw and scored off a steal to put the Saintes back on top.
 Bailey White added two late free throws to cap the scoring, as well as her 22-point night. Emily Recher (18 points) and White combined to score all 26 of St. Albert’s first-half points.
 Jocelyn Cheek and Anna Ahrenholtz had break-out games for HCHS with 15 and 14 points, respectively.