Schwieso scores 1,000th point in Friday’s win
Coming into Friday’s home match against the Creston Panthers, Cyclone Senior Aubrey Schwieso needed just four points to reach 1000 in her Cyclone basketball career and was able to achieve it on a 3-point shot in the first quarter, en route to a 73-36 win.
“I just want to credit all my past teammates, all my past coaches, and then my present coaches and teammates,” Schwieso said. “I wouldn’t be here without them. Obviously, that number is not possible without their passes and all the work they put in as well.”
Schwieso opened the game with an immediate 3-point shot, but the Panthers responded back when Junior Brynn Tussey made back-to-back shots to put her team up 4-3. However, the Cyclone offense got going with back-to-back layups from Senior Grace Albertsen, followed by a mid-range jump shot from Sophomore Kenzley Bruck, and then a steal from Albertsen, which turned into a layup making it a 14-6 Cyclone lead.
Bruck made another mid-range shot, followed by a 3-pointer from Senior Molly Swensen, and then a layup under the hoop from Schwieso. The final shot of the quarter came on a layup from Albertsen as the Cyclones led 28-14.
“You can see that she [Bruck] got a couple of buckets early last night, and not necessarily easy buckets,” Klaassen said. “She had to work for it at a good angle, high and soft off the backboard, and then all of sudden you see the smile come on. When she’s smiling, things seem to work a lot better for her. She’s a talented young lady, and just has to keep shooting too.”
The Cyclones opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run with baskets from Albertsen and Bruck, forcing a timeout from Panther head coach Tony Neubauer. When play resumed, the offense continued to dominate with another 3-pointer from Schwieso, a layup from Albertsen, and back-to-back 3’s from Sophomore Brinley Van Baale and Swensen to close out the half leading 49-19.
“We just talked about if they [Creston] were going to come out with certain types of presses what we’re going to run against it,” Klaassen added. “We weren’t sure what kind of adjustments they were making, so we were kind of taking a shot in the dark on what they were going to do and what we needed to do to counteract that.”
Albertsen dropped the first basket of the third quarter on a layup, followed by two more, along with Swensen getting a layup as the Cyclones began the second half on an 8-2 run. Albertsen made another layup, followed by a mid-range shot from Bruck. Towards the end of the quarter, an unlikely source in Junior Kate Koesters made her third 3-pointer of the season helping the Cyclones to a 69-32 lead.
The Cyclones outscored the Panthers 14-4 in the fourth quarter as Klaassen sat his starters and brought in his bench players to close out the game for their 15th win of the season.
“It’s always good to get those junior varsity kids in there,” he said. “They earn it every day in practice pushing the varsity kids. It’s good to see them get rewarded a little bit.”
The Cyclones will be back at home Monday against the 6-11 Winterset Huskies. The Huskies are led by Brynn Acton averaging 10.6 points, Sophomore Natalie Smith averaging 5.8 rebounds, and Makenna Olson averaging 2.2 assists per game.
“We don’t really lock at records,” Schwieso said. “We’re just looking at them like every other team that comes in here. It’s great to have another home game, and hopefully keep this win streak going.”
