The Greene County Ram basketball teams made their first trip to State Center to play the West Marshall Trojans Dec. 15 and returned home with a pair of losses.
This is the first year in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference for the Trojans.
The girls opened the twin bill with a 53-25 loss. The Rams scored only once in the first quarter, a 2-point bucket by Lily Muir. The quarter ended with the Rams down 13-2. Brianna Osterson scored the Rams’ only points in the second quarter, a deuce and a trey. The Trojans scored just six points, so the score was 19-7 at the half.
In the third quarter, Sadie Wilson, Osterson and Makayla Kafer all made 3-point baskets, with Kafer adding a 2-pointer. The score was 40-18 after three quarters. Osterson repeated her second quarter performance in the fourth, and Muir added another two points.
The Rams were without Brianna Habben, who has averaged 17 points per game. She is expected to be ready to play again Saturday when the Rams take on Pocahontas.
The Rams were a dismal 0 for 6 at the free throw line and committed 31 turnovers. They five of 14 3-point shots and five of 15 2–point shots.
The win was the first HOIAC win for the Trojans, who are now 1-1 in the conference and 4-2 overall. The Ram girls are 1-2 in the conference and 2-2 overall.
The boys team is still looking for a win after falling 59-53 to the Trojans.
The game wasn’t as close as the final score suggests. The score was 4-4 three minutes into the first quarter, but the Rams didn’t score for the next four minutes while the host Trojans put 13 more points on the scoreboard. The first quarter ended with the Rams down by 10 points, 19-9. Points remained hard to come by in the second quarter; the Rams were down 34-29 at intermission
The Rams were stone cold from 3-point range. Their first 3-point basket was by Jackson Morton, playing in his first game of the season, with less than a minute left in the third quarter. The had pulled to within six points of the Trojans midway through the quarter, at 37-31. The quarter ended with the Rams down by 10, 46-36.
The Rams whittled away at the lead in the fourth quarter. They were within three points, 56-53, with 1:37 left to play in the game, but the Trojans put up the last three points for a six point win, 59-53.
Bryce Stalder led the Rams in scoring with 17 points, followed by Max Riley at 25 points and Zach Goff at 10. Morton scored seven points and Richard Daugherty scored four. The Rams made just two of 23 3-point shots and 23 of 43 2-point shots. They made it to the free throw line just five times; Riley made the Rams’ lone point from the line.
The Trojans are 2-3 overall while the Rams are 0-4.
