The Greene County Rams split varsity basketball games with the South Hamilton Hawks in Jewell Friday night, Jan. 23. The girls won the first game 55-39 and the boys lost 78-60.
The Rams dominated the girls game from the start. The Hawks didn’t score in the first 5:42 of the game, and that bucket was the Hawks’ only score in that frame. The score was 14-2 after eight minutes of play.
The Hawks didn’t score again until midway in the second quarter, when they had two foul shots (the first of the game for either team) and made them both. The Rams continued their scoring pace and led 27-9 at the half. Their biggest lead was 22 points midway in the third quarter, but the Hawks tightened the gap to 38-23 at the end of the third quarter. Scoring was nearly balanced in the fourth quarter, with the Rams scoring 17 and the Hawks scoring 16. The Hawks were helped by several fourth quarter Ram fouls; seven of the Hawks points were at the free throw line.
Both teams scored above their season average. The Rams 55 points were eight more than their average. The Hawks’ 39 points were 11 more than their average.
Kayla Mobley scored 16 points, very close to her average. Stacy Mears scored 15, well ahead of her average 8.8 points, and Tressa Rasmussen scored 13 points, almost three times her average. Hannah Onken scored six points, Jolee Wessling scored three points and Kenna Marquardt scored two points. Mears made three 3-point shots and Rasmussen made two. Marissa Promes, who averages more than seven points a game, did not score.
The Ram girls are now 6-6 in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference and 7-7 overall. The Hawks are 2-11 in the conference and 2-13 overall.
The highlight of the boys game was sophomore Trey Tucker’s performance. He went into the game leading all 3A boys in Iowa in scoring with a 24.6 point average, and he may well maintain that standing after Friday’s games. Tucker scored 30 points, including two 3-point shots and five of five shooting at the free throw line.
Tucker’s 30 points were half the total point production for the team. The Rams went into the game averaging 68 points and giving up an average of 68 points. They allowed 78 points to the Hawks, who only averaged 47 points per game. The Hawks’ two highest scoring games of the season have both been against the Rams, although the Rams won the first match-up of the season.
The game plodded along as the officials called foul after foul. The officials called 15 total fouls in the first 5:10 of play, and 16 for the first quarter. The foul pace slowed only slightly, with the Rams tallying up 26 fouls for the game. The Rams’ percentage at the free throw line was better than the Hawks at 15 of 19 unofficially, but the Hawks made it to the line 32 times and shot successfully 21 times.
Riah Nelsen and Max Neese each had two fouls early in the first quarter and spent the rest of the first half on the bench. They both played in the second half and scored two points each, but they fouled out in the fourth quarter. Nelsen has contributed an average 8.5 points per game, with Neese adding another three.
Reid Lamoureux scored eight points, including going four for four at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Landon Braun scored seven points with a 3-pointer in the first quarter. Tyler Beger scored four points, including a 3-pointer. Matthew Gordon scored three points on three for four shooting at the free throw line in the first quarter, and Mitchell Gorsuch scored two points in the first quarter.
The score was tied at 13 after the first quarter. The Hawks outscored the Rams 20 to 14 in the second quarter to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room at halftime. Both teams scored 18 points for the third quarter (53-45 for the Hawks). In the fourth quarter, the Hawks’ shooting was hot and they got many more offensive rebounds than the Rams. They put up 25 points while the Rams scored 15, for the final 78-60 margin.
Like the girls, the Hawks’ only wins going into the game were against winless Colfax-Mingo. The loss took the Rams to 6-5 in the conference and 6-7 overall. The Hawks are now at 3-8 in the conference and 3-11 overall.
