Lady Monarchs’ 12-0 fourth-quarter run puts away Cyclones, 40-32

 HARLAN (Dec. 11) -- In a game matching two top-10 Class 4A girls basketball teams, Denison-Schleswig’s 12-0 fourth-quarter run proved to be the difference Friday night as the ninth-ranked Monarchs handed No. 10 Harlan Community its first loss of the season, 40-32.
 HCHS outscored Denison 7-2 at the start of the fourth to take a 29-27 lead, but was held scoreless for more than four and a half minutes until Caitlyn Leinen’s three-pointer made it a seven-point game with just :25.6 remaining.
 Both squads played solid man-to-man defense for most of the contest, with Denison mixing in an effective half court trap during their fourth-quarter spurt.
 Three nights after making 13-of-27 treys in a lopsided 87-41 win over Kuemper, the Cyclone girls shot just 4-of-26 from the arc Friday and finished 12-of-50 overall (24 percent).
 “A game like this... every possession is almost worth five possessions because it’s going to be low scoring,” said HCHS coach Zach Klaassen. “They know everything we run. We know everything they run. It’s just a matter of executing well and everybody being on the same page and it just wasn’t quite there tonight... There was just no flow offensively.
 “We went into motion a few times and we had people cutting that are supposed to be setting screens. We’re trying to fight to get over the top of screens [defensively] instead of just going underneath, too, at times. We just didn’t have all five kids on the same page.” 
 Almost every statistical category was even or close to even, although the Monarchs shot the ball somewhat better from the field at 37.8 percent (14-of-37). In addition to Paige Andersen’s 17 points, Sophie Sonnichsen and six-foot post Hannah Neemann both scored seven points and Ellie Magnusen added five. Neemann grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
 Macie Leinen paced HCHS with 11 points and also led the way with eight rebounds and three steals. Cheek scored six points and Claire Schmitz had five points and five boards. Hall only scored two points (the first basket of the game) but tallied six rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.
 On the bright side for the Cyclones (4-1 overall), the game did not count in the Hawkeye Ten standings, leaving their conference record at 2-0. Denison is also 4-1 overall with a 1-1 mark in league games.
 HCHS can also take some solace in the fact it lost last year’s December home game vs. Denison before beating the Monarchs on the road and again in regional play.