The Greene County Ram basketball teams finished the 2018-19 regular season Tuesday with a pair of losses to the North Polk Comets in Alleman.
The Comet girls team is ranked #1 in Class 3A by the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union. They flew past the Rams 79-23. The Rams scored 10 more points than in their December meeting. Both games were played with a continuous clock the entire second half.
Comet sophomore Maggie Phipps scored 28 points in three quarters of play. She and her teammates made 12 3-point baskets for the game.
Sadie Wilson, who averages 2.8 points per game, led the Rams in scoring with six points. She made the Rams’ only 3-point baskets. Kassie Lamoureux scored five points, twice her season average. Makala Kefer scored four points and Brianna Habben, Brianna Osterson and Victoria Peterson scored two points each. Peterson’s points were her first varsity points. Coach Tyler Westhoff gave all his team playing time.
The Ram girls finished the regular season with a 1-20 record overall and 1-13 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. They’ll open Class 3A regional play Saturday, Feb. 9, at 7 pm in Carroll against the 12-8 Carroll Tigers. The Rams lost to the Tigers 63-28 in regular season play Feb. 2.
The boys game was seemed to be two different games. The first half was a close game with teams answering each other in points. The second half was a game of runs and droughts. The final score was 70-63 in favor of the home team. With three minutes to play, it was a one-point game, 57-56 in favor of the Comets
The Comets scored first and stayed ahead of the Rams for the first seven minutes of the game. The Rams stayed close, not letting the lead get more than five points away from them. The Rams were down 16-13 late in the quarter when John Rosado and Tyler Miller put up field goals to put the Rams ahead 17-16 at the end of the quarter.
The story was the similar in the second quarter. The game was tied at 20, T 27, AT 30 and again at 32. Carter Morton made a pair of free throws in the last 30 seconds of the quarter and the half ended with the Rams up 34-32.
The Comets changed up their defense to start the second half and the Rams were challenged to keep track of the ball. The Rams had committed nine turnovers in the first half; they committed seven turnovers in the first 2:30 of play in the third quarter. The Comets’ shooting prevailed as the Ram offense faltered. The Comets scored 13 points to take a 48-34 lead before Morton put up a 3-pointer. Something sparked in junior Cael Fisher, as he put up 10 unanswered points, starting with two made free throws. He continued with a 3-point shot, a field goal, and another tres to bring the Rams to within one point, 48-47, at the end of the third quarter.
John Rosado scored first in the fourth quarter to give the Rams a 49-48 lead. The Rams built the lead to 54-49, but before the clock got down to four minutes the score was tied at 54. The Rams were down by one, 57-56, with three minutes to play, but they couldn’t get enough of their shots through the hoop for the win. The Comets played the clock and sank the free throws the Rams gave them. The Rams were down 70-60 when junior Nick Breon made a 3-point basket, the final score of the game.
Fisher led the team in scoring with 17 points, 15 of them in the second half. He made two 3-point baskets, two field goals, and made seven of nine free throws. Morton had 16 points with one tres, four 2-point baskets, and five of six free throws.
Tyler Miller made 12 points. He didn’t play after being called for a technical foul with 3:58 to play in the third quarter. The “T” was his second in three games. The same referee also called Trey Hinote and Comet Braden Hoksbergen for technical fouls. Hinote spent five minutes of playing time on the bench after his “T”. The Comets double-teamed him the entire game, managing to hold him at only six points, with a 3-pointer in each of the first two quarters. Hinote holds the school record for most points scored in a game at 44.
Breon finished the game with six points and Rosado had four. Xavier Hayes had put up the Rams’ first two points and he finished the game with two points.
The Rams finished with 22 turnovers, nine of them in the third quarter. The Comets had 11 turnovers. The Rams shot just a shade better than the Comets from the floor and at the line.
The Rams finished the regular season at 7-15 overall and 4-10 in the HOIAC. The Comets finished a 4-13 overall and 3-8 in the conference.
The Ram boys start post-season play in the Class 2A district tournament Monday, Feb. 11, in Ogden at 6:30 pm. They’ll play the Southeast Valley Jaguars (6-14) of Gowrie.
