HCHS girls fight to the end against No. 7 Titans

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (Feb. 7) -- Starting the game with a near five-and-a-half minute scoring drought and trailing 15-5 after one quarter, the Harlan Community girls could have panicked Friday night with thoughts of last month’s 58-34 home loss to Lewis Central.
 Instead, the Cyclones fought hard to the bitter end, pulling within four points in the third quarter and cutting a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to seven before losing to the seventh-ranked (4A) Titans 54-47.
 LC, playing without two starters in Delaney Esterling (12.6 ppg.) and Hadley Hill (5.9 ppg.), snapped Harlan’s six-game winning streak and improved to 13-5 overall and 7-2 in the Hawkeye Ten. HCHS dropped to 11-9 and 6-4, respectively, finishing in a fourth-place tie with Denison in the conference standings.
 “They played all 32 minutes tonight,” said Cyclone coach Zach Klaassen of his team. “We battled and made some big shots down the stretch, got some stops... found some open people for buckets. Plus we hit the o-boards, got some putbacks. That was good to see as well.”
 Lewis Central’s full court press caused the Cyclones some early trouble and led to a McKenna Pettepier three-point play as the Titans started the game up 8-0. But as the night went on, HCHS broke the press multiple times and LC opted to play half court defense for most of the last three periods.
 HCHS outscored LC 42-39 over the last three quarters but the Titans answered each Cyclone challenge as Witte surpassed her average with 19 points and the team made 10 three-pointers in 25 attempts.
 Lewis Central hit five big treys in the third quarter (two each by Jayden Cross and McKenna Pettepier) as Cyclone defenders sagged off the arc just enough to allow some open looks against man-to-man defense. Ashley Hall’s driving layup pulled HCHS within 31-27 before LC’s outside shooting helped restore a nine-point margin by the end of the period.
 McKenna Paulsen’s three and a Witte basket inside made it 50-34 early in the fourth and that was too much for the Cyclones to overcome despite late threes by Jocelyn Cheek, Macie Leinen and Caitlyn Leinen and the Titans missing three front ends of 1-and-1.
 In addition to Witte’s 19 points, Pettepier had a solid game for LC with 16 points and five rebounds. She hit 3-of-5 threes and 5-of-6 free throws.
 The Cyclones’ balanced scoring ledger was led by Cheek with 11 points (3-of-8 treys). Caitlyn Leinen scored 10 off the bench, followed by Hall with eight, Macie Leinen seven, Claire Schmitz six and Brecken Van Baale five.
 HCHS finished with a 36-24 rebounding advantage, led by Macie Leinen’s nine offensive boards and 16 total. She also blocked three shots.

 
 

 

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