The Greene County Rams were handed two more losses in a busy week away from home. In Gilbert Friday night the girls lost 39-19 to the Gilbert Tigers and the boys lost 81-68.
In the girls game the Tigers, who were the taller team in the game, took the lead early and the Rams were never contenders. Marissa Promes scored the only Ram points for the first quarter, a bucket with 3:50 to play. Score after eight minutes of play was 8-2. The second quarter went no better. Jolee Wessling scored two points with 2:41 left to play, but the Tigers had scored another seven points by then. Score at halftime was 19-4. Lead scorers Kayla Mobley and Stacy Mears were both zero for two and the free throw line and were scoreless at the intermission.
In the third quarter Mobley made two free throws for her only points of the entire game. Her game average is 15 points. Hannah Onken was also two for two at the line. Tressa Rasmussen got a 3-pointer in to complete scoring in the quarter. The Rams had turned the ball over (unofficially) seven times in the first half, but then had six turnovers in the third quarter. The Tigers’ largest lead was 29-6 late in the third quarter. Score at the end of the quarter was 29-11.
Onken, Promes, Kenna Marquardt and Nicole Rohner each scored a basket in the fourth quarter. Unofficially, the Rams shot at 15.8 percent, making six of 38 shots, while the Tigers shot at 33 percent, making 15 of 45 shots. The only statistic in which the Rams prevailed was in free throws. The Rams were four of six at the line for 67 percent, while the Tigers were five of 12 for 41.6 percent.
“We really struggled to score tonight. We took good shots, but just couldn’t get them to fall. I hope we can overcome this. I know we can play better” said coach Chad Morton after the game.
The Ram girls are now 7-9 in the Heart of Iowa Conference while the Tigers are 13-5.
The Rams were also the underdogs in the boys game as well, with Gilbert in the Top 10 ranked 3A teams in the state and leading the HOIAC. Gilbert’s offense dominated with a fast break and in offense rebounds. The Tigers beat the Rams 87-72 in their first game earlier this season, with Ram Trey Tucker scoring 40 points in his home gym and Tiger Jack Hoiberg scoring 25.
In the rematch, the Tigers held Tucker to 18 points and the Rams held Hoiberg to eight points , all of them at the free throw line and six of them in the fourth quarter.
The Rams trailed for all of the first quarter and struggled with shooting, making five of 16 shots while the Tigers made seven of 12. Score after eight minutes of play was 18-14. The Rams tied the game at 18 early in the second quarter and held the lead very briefly at 21-20. The score was again very briefly tied at 23, but in the last 5:30 of the quarter the Tigers put up 19 points while the Rams came up with only six. Score at halftime was 42-29.
The third quarter was scoring time for the Rams, with 24 points to the Tigers’ 17. The Rams’ points included two three-pointers by Tyler Beger, two by Mitchell Gorsuch, one by Reid Lamoureux and one by Tucker. The Rams tied the score at 51 with 2:10 to play in the quarter, but the Tigers put up eight unanswered points before the Rams scored the last points of the quarter. Score was 59-53 at the end of the quarter.
The Tigers’ fast break was a factor in the fourth quarter as they scored 12 points on uncontested lay-ups. The Tigers dominated the entire quarter, scoring 23 points to the Rams’ 15. Score at the final buzzer was 81-68.
For the first time this season, Beger matched Tucker in scoring. Beger came into the game averaging five points, but Friday he scored 18 points on four 3-point baskets, two field goals and two for two shooting at the free throw line. Unofficially, Gorsuch scored 11 points, Lamoureux scored six, Riah Nelsen and Max Neese scored four each, Landon Braun scored three and Matthew Gordon scored two.
Both teams had enviable free throw statistics, with the Rams 12 of 14 for 85.7 percent and the Tigers 16 of 20 for 75 percent. The Rams were 23 of 56 shooting for the game (41 percent) and the Tigers were 28 of 53 (52.8 percent).
The loss put the Ram boys at 6-8 in the conference and 6-10 overall.
The boys play a non-conference game in Jefferson against Panorama Saturday at 4:30 pm. The girls play again on Tuesday.
