Central girls start season with win over Postville
Haley Frieden led Central in scoring, with 24 points, in the 59-41 win over Postville on Nov. 24. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Delaney Scherf proved effective on the defensive side of the ball, leading the Warriors with five steals.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The Central girls basketball season got off to a rousing start last week, with a dominant 59-41 victory over the Postville Pirates.
Central was led in scoring by Haley Frieden with 24 points, including 16 in the first half. Delaney Scherf had 20 in the game, including 13 in the second half. Other scorers were Lexi Loan with six points, Abby Cummer with four points and Carly Kluesner with three points. Grace Kuehl hit a field goal in the fourth quarter to finish with two points.
The offense shot 36.9 percent from the field, going 24 of 65. The Warriors also continued their three-point barrage offense, putting up 21 threes in the game, making seven of them for 33.3 percent from behind the arc. Frieden and Scherf combined to make all seven of them.
In other offensive categories, Scherf led the team with five assists, while Frieden distributed the basketball three times. Hannah Asche, Loan and Cummer each had one assist.
“Our willingness to distribute the basketball to open teammates was good. We had 16 turnovers in the game, so we want to take care of the basketball better each game out. This was a good start to the season,” head coach Mark Wiley said.
Frieden also led the team in rebounds with eight. Loan and Cummer each had six rebounds, and Ashlyn Scherf and Carly Kluesner had four rebounds each. The Warriors out-rebounded the Pirates 36-27.
“Our rebounding abilities have to continue to improve as a team. We did really well for stretches of the game, and then would give up three offensive rebounds in four Postville possessions. Consistently finding someone to box out on every shot is an approach we have to take to each game,” Wiley said.
Delaney Scherf proved effective on the defensive side of the ball, leading the team with five steals, while Frieden grabbed four. Carly Kluesner and Cummer each had two steals and Ashlyn Scherf and Loan had a steal each.
On defense, Central forced 25 turnovers, had six blocks and 15 steals for an all-around solid night and something to build on going forward.
“Our defense also showed flashes of what it can become. We started the game really well with a 10-0 lead, and a lot of those points were off the press defense,” Wiley said.
Two areas of concern present in the opening game of the season were free throws and fouls. Starting with free throws, the team attempted 11 and only made four, or 36.6 percent.
In the fouls area, the team had 14, which led to the Pirates having 16 free throw attempts. Had Postville made a higher percentage of free throws, the game could’ve been a lot closer than it finished.
Talking about the game, Wiley said, “One thing I thought was a positive was our willingness to attack the hoop off the dribble.”
The Warriors have a busy week coming up, with a home game on Dec. 1 against West Central, before traveling to face Kee on Dec. 4, then hosting the Springville Orioles on Dec. 5.
