The Greene County Rams split varsity basketball games in Jefferson Friday evening against the North Polk Comets. The girls overcame a 10 point halftime deficit to lead by one at the end of the third quarter, only to lose by nine points, 58-49.
The boys held a 14 point lead at halftime, but the lead dwindled to only one point at the end of the third quarter and the Rams won by two points, 77-75.
Both teams taking winning records in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference into the holiday break.
In the girls game, the Rams fell behind in the first quarter 16-11 and fell further behind in the second quarter. In the first 67 seconds of the third quarter they scored seven points, and their hot shooting continued as they made eight out of 10 shots, including three 3-point shots. They tied the game at 40 with 1:21 left in the third quarter and were up 46-43 one minute into the fourth quarter when lead scorer Kayla Mobley was injured in a collision. She spent three minutes on the bench, during which time the Rams did not score. The Rams’ only points for the remainder of the game came as three free throws – one by Mobley, one by Stacy Mears, and one by Jolee Wessling.
The Rams were not at the free throw line at all until the fourth quarter; they made three of six at the charity line. Those three points, and a pre-collision basket by Mobley, were the only points in the fourth quarter.
Mobley led the Rams in scoring with 15 points. Marissa Promes and Mears both scored nine points. Six of Mears’ points came from 3-point baskets. Tressa Rasmussen also made two 3-point baskets for her sic point total. Hannah Onken and Jolee Wessling both scored four points, with Wessling making a 3-pointer and a free throw. Those players are all seniors. Sophomore Kenna Marquardt was the only underclassman to play; she scored two points. Sophomore Hannah Promes also had considerable playing time earlier in the season until she injured her knee in the game against Perry last Saturday. She will not be able to play for the rest of the season.
The Ram girls are 4-3 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference and overall.
In boys basketball, the Comets lead most of the first quarter until a six point run in the last minute of the quarter. The Rams tied the game at 15 with 40 seconds to play and finished the quarter at 18-15.
The Rams had a huge second quarter, scoring 28 points, with three 3-point baskets from Landon Braun and another 3-pointer from Mark Gorsuch. Braun had 11 points in that quarter, while lead scorer Trey Tucker was held to only four points. The Rams’ ball handling was good, with only four turnovers in the entire first half.
The Comets answered with 21 points in the third quarter while holding the Rams to only eight points – three 2-point buckets by Tucker and a pair of free throws by Reid Lamoureux. The Rams ball handling was off, as they committed four turnovers in the first two minutes of the quarter. The Comets had come into the game averaging only 43 points per game, but against the Rams, they had 53 points at the end of the third quarter. They were ahead 51-50 and 53-52, but the quarter ended with the Rams up 54-53
The Rams scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, with Tucker contributing 13 of them. The Rams managed to build their lead to 11 points with less than three minutes to play, but the Comets put on a run to make it a two-possession game, 71-67 for the Rams. The Comets were within two points at 75-73, and after another Ram basket, the Comets made a basket just before the final buzzer to bring the score to 77-75. With no timeouts left for the Comets, the game ended with the victory going to the Rams.
Tucker finished the game with 30 points. Braun had 16, Riah Nelsen had 12, Lamoureux had 9, Gorsuch had six, Max Neese had two and Tyler Beger had one.
The Ram boys are now 4-2 in the HOIAC and 4-3 overall.
