IKM-Manning girls hang tough with No. 8 Cards

 MANNING (Jan. 12) -- Playing for the first time since a 64-35 loss to Underwood, the IKM-Manning girls basketball team left the court feeling a lot better about Tuesday’s performance in a 47-42 home defeat vs. 8th-ranked (2A) Treynor.
 Trailing 19-9 after one quarter, the Wolves never let the Cardinals out of their sights and made a couple of strong challenges along the way, ultimately cutting a 14-point deficit down to five in the final few minutes.
 IKM-Manning, which outscored Treynor 33-28 during the last three periods, fell to 2-7 overall and 2-5 in the Western Iowa Conference. The Cardinals improved to 12-1 and 9-0, respectively.
 IKM-M head coach Gene Rasmussen felt that it was one of his team’s best-played games since early in the season.
 “I never doubt their effort. I think they always play as hard as they can,” he said. “I think we’re getting better defensively, which will help because we’re trying to make some adjustments to get them in better position.
 "Offensively, we’ve changed some things up and I think more people are starting to become more confident in the shooting and in taking it to the basket, and I think that’s going to be important for us moving forward.”
 Treynor has now won 11 straight games since losing to Harlan on November 30, but the Wolves were able to hang around for 32 minutes by playing solid man-to-man defense.
 The Cardinals made 9-of-20 three-pointers in the game, including 5-of-9 from Mandy Stogdill, but they converted just 8-of-26 two-pointers and shot 37 percent overall. Stogdill finished with a game-high 18 points while Clara Teigland, who was plagued by first-half foul trouble, scored 12. Alyssa added six points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
 Alexa Ahrenholtz, who was held scoreless in the first half, tallied 14 second-half points (10 in the fourth quarter) to lead the Wolves. She also tied Bianca Cadwell for the team lead with six rebounds and had three assists.
 Nicole Hanson hit 3-of-5 threes and finished with nine points for the Wolves, followed by Cadwell and Taylor Ferneding with six each, Bre Muhlbauer four and Morgan Hanson three.