Cyclones take road victory over Glenwood Rams

Junior Erica Rust scored 18 points for the Cyclones en route to a tight 54-52 road victory over the Glenwood Rams Tuesday night.

“I’m very happy with Erica's performance the other night,” said Cyclones Head Coach Zach Klaassen. “Going up against one of the better athletes in the middle as well that night. She has been very consistent for us this year.”

The game got off to a quick start with both teams matching each other point-for-point, taking an 8-8 tie to the end of the quarter.

Harlan got going a little more in the second quarter outscoring the Rams by seven points, taking a lead into the locker room at halftime.

An unlucky hero in Junior Hannah Sonderman stepped up for the Cyclones who scored 16 points on the night. She was averaging 6.5 points per game.

“It was one of her best night's of the season,” Klaassen said of Sonderman. “She had some big steals and 4 of 5 from the arc. We know she has the ability to do that on any given night. Hope this leads to some confidence from the arc going forward.”

Glenwood fought back in the third quarter with Senior Jenna Hopp leading the way, who ultimately scored 29 points on the night. The next highest scorer was Kate Hughes with 10.

“The game plan was to make her [Hopp] work for everything she got and Ava [Monson], Molly [Swensen], and Ella [Plagman] did a good job of that,” Klaassen said. “She is a tough player to guard with her strength and athletic ability, but they did an amazing job. When you have to guard between the ball and her it is tough to get in a rebounding position, and that is how she got most of her points.”

Glenwood proved they weren’t going down without a fight forcing the game to overtime with a 17 point fourth quarter. In overtime, Harlan outscored them 6-4 and won the game for its eighth win on the season and second consecutive.

“The team should be feeling pretty confident at this point,” Klaassen added. “We have had some quality home wins, but not really any road wins, so this should help. We need to stay grounded and hungry going forward because the schedule doesn't get any easier.”

The Cyclones return home Friday night at 6 p.m. to face the 9-3 Atlantic Trojans, who have won their previous four games. Trojans are led by Sophomore Paytn Harter with 185 points and 126 rebounds this season.

“We need to shore up the middle of the floor and out rebound them for us to come out with a win,” Klaassen said.