Cyclones sneak past Huskies at home
Juniors Erica Rust and Hannah Sonderman led the way for the Cyclones Monday night at home against the #12 4A ranked Winterset Huskies, giving them their second consecutive win and 12th of the season.
“This was a really good win for us,” Rust said. “Winterset is a great team. They’re ranked in 4A, but we just came together as a team and got it done.”
Rust opened the game for the Cyclones by scoring the first basket. Not long after, Sonderman stole the ball from Winterset, came down court and scored, giving the Cyclones an early 4-0 lead.
The Huskies managed to claw their way back into the game, dropping a few 3-pointers, including one from Senior Huskie Avary Darling, who helped cut the lead to 3 points heading into the second quarter.
Less than a minute into the second quarter, Sophomore Huskie Ashlynn Devine made a 3-point shot, tying the game at 12. It didn’t take long for the Cyclones to get their lead back when Rust made a bucket, putting the Cyclones back in front.
Senior Huskie Bailey Acton put her team back in front for a brief moment when she made a 3-pointer of her own, giving the Huskies a 15-14 lead.
Both teams were in a back-and-forth affair until the Cyclones widened their lead to five points, forcing Huskies head coach Jason Darling to use a timeout.
With less than 5 seconds remaining before halftime, Sonderman was fouled, sending her to the line, where she made two clutch free throws, giving the Cyclones a 25-19 lead heading into the locker room.
“We just need to play together and get the ball moving and we were able to do that,” Rust said. “They locked me up down low in that second half, and then our team was finding that 3-point ball.”
Sonderman opened the third quarter with a shot from downtown, putting the Cyclones up by 9. The Huskies cut the lead to 8 when Klaassen called a timeout with under five minutes in the quarter.
Devine was fouled, missed both her free throws, but Senior Huskie Raegan Coobs got the rebound, was fouled herself, putting her at the line, where she made both her free throws, cutting the lead to five points.
With the third quarter coming to an end, the Cyclones had possession of the ball and Sonderman made a clutch 3-pointer, putting her team back up by 8.
The Huskies opened the fourth quarter going on a 7-0 run when Klaassen called a timeout for a word with his team.
“I told them just to keep their composure,” he said. “It felt like they got us to speed up a little bit and they were kind of taking some things away that we were executing offensively and we can’t panic.”
When play resumed, Sonderman had possession of the ball and hit a 3-point shot just before the shot clock expired, putting her team up by five.
“We needed every one of them,” Klaassen said. “Hannah, right before the buzzer obviously was huge.”
A few more buckets were exchanged by both teams, but in the end, the Cyclones hung on for a 43-38 win. Their next game was originally supposed to be against the Kuemper Catholic Knights Tuesday night, but was cancelled.
They will return home Friday night at 6 p.m. to battle the 13-3 Lewis Central Titans, looking for redemption after the Titans beat them 53-26 on Jan. 3. The Titans are led by Junior Lucy Scott with 256 points, Sophomore Brooke Larsen with 115 rebounds and Senior Gracie Hays with 47 assists.