A strong second half for Marshalltown girls basketball wasn’t enough to catch Mason City in a 44-30 loss in the Roundhouse in Marshalltown on Tuesday.
The Bobcats (5-9) played Mason City even in the second half but struggled with 16 turnovers in a first half that sent the girls to the locker room trailing the Riverhawks, 23-9.
“We came out flat,” MHS head coach Brian Murphy said. “We didn’t come out with the type of energy, the type of aggression that we needed and just spotted them too many points.”
Murphy felt things came easier in the second half as the Bobcats were able to wrangle the Riverhawks into playing halfcourt offense instead of letting Mason City (10-4) run away in the transition game.
“This is the first time this season where we’ve really capitalized on making teams play us in the halfcourt,” Murphy said. “I thought we showed where that pride comes from in our defense.”
The Bobcats also got the offense up and running in the second half, with Morgan Hilderbrand pouring in nine of her team-leading 12 points in the final two quarters. Millie Heitmann added eight points and Kinsley Bowie scored six.
“We’ve had opportunities in other games where we had open shots and hesitated,” Murphy said. “This was the first game in awhile where we had girls looking to shoot without hesitation. We have good shooters – they just have to believe in that.
“Morgan’s been shooting really well for us, and it was good for Kinsley Bowie to see the ball go through. I think she’s hard on herself coming back from rehab and trying to get her feet underneath her, it’s just so much easier offensively when it’s inside-out.”
Frankie Long had 12 rebounds for MHS and Heitmann added 10 rebounds. Long added four blocked shots and Heitmann and Jorja Janssen stuffed three shots each.
Machaela Trask led the Riverhawks with 21 points and Anna Latham scored 11 points. Mason City scored the first 11 points of the second quarter to jump out to a 21-5 advantage that ended up being plenty on Tuesday.
“I was just proud of our resilience tonight,” Murphy said. “Millie played just about every minute of that game, maybe a couple 30, 40 second breaks, and she wants to do that, that’s the mentality we want her to have, so the fact that we finished the game so strong despite being exhausted was a testament to the girls’ character.”
The Bobcats return to action at home next Monday against Grinnell.
Mason City 44, Marshalltown 30
MASON CITY (10-4, 4-1) — Brogan Evans 1 0-0 2, Machaela Trask 9 0-0 21, Gracyn Braun 0 1-2 1, Anna Latham 4 1-2 11, Zaria Falls 3 0-0 6, Piper Johnson 0 0-0 0, Sophia Schoneberg 0 0-0 0, Maggie Berding 1 0-0 2, Armani Caldwell 0 0-0 0, Magalli Gonzalez 0 0-0 0, Leah Dykstra 0 0-0 0, Savannah Davis 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 18 3-6 44.
MARSHALLTOWN (5-9, 0-5) — Kinsley Bowie 2 0-0 6, Millie Heitmann 4 0-4 8, Jorja Janssen 1 0-2 2, Ellie Hughes 0 0-0 0, Frankie Long 0 2-6 2, Niah Lott 0 0-0 0, Morgan Hilderbrand 4 1-2 12. TOTALS 11 3-14 30.
MASON CITY 10 13 16 5 — 44
MHS 5 4 13 8 — 30
3-Point Goals–MC 5 (Trask 3, Latham 2), MHS 5 (Hilderbrand 3, Bowie 2). Team Fouls–MC 14, MHS 10. Fouled Out–none.