A week of ups and downs for GHV girls

The Garner-Hayfield-Ventura girls started the week strong, with two big wins, but unfortunately they couldn’t maintain the momentum and dropped the last two games.

GHV 67, Charles City 58

The GHV girls are hoping to build on the success they had Monday night, when they opened thee 2017-18 season with a 67-58 win victory over Charles City.

“It is a great way to start the season with a win and hopefully we can continue to improve on both ends of the floor,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.

It was a slow start for the Cardinals as they only managed a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter, 15-13.  Three minutes into the second quarter, the Comets took the lead, 19-18.  Four free-throws in a row by Jillian Heitland, followed by back-to-back threes by the Cardinals swung the momentum of the game and GHV headed into halftime with a 35-22 lead.

Charles City didn’t give up.  They battled back in the third quarter and closed the gap to within five, 39-34.  A six-point run by the Comets in the fourth quarter brought the game even closer, 43-40.  GHV answered that with a seven-point run of their own on the way to a 67-58 victory.

“As we get more comfortable with our offense, as well as playing with different combinations of girls we can only hope that we can clean up many of our mistakes,” said Erpelding.

Jayden Frank and Jillian Heitland led the team with 18-points apiece.  Frank connected on 4/5 from the three-point line.  Other leading scorers included Mara Anderson with nine, Jade Hansen with seven and Maddie Williams chipped in six.

Heitland hauled in the most rebounds with nine.  Anderson grabbed seven, while Jade Hanson had six and Frank hauled in five.

Williams led the team in assists with five and in steals with three.  Heitland and Hanson had two steals each.  Anderson had two blocked shots.

GHV 62, North Iowa 28

Back-to-back games didn’t faze the Cardinals, as they their rolled over North Iowa  on Tuesday night, Nov. 28.

The Bison may have scored first, but GHV made up for that when they went on a 10-point run for an early lead.  Nicole Upmeyer ended the first quarter with a pair of free-throws for a 16-6 lead.

Jillian Heitland went to work at the end of the second quarter, scoring the final nine points of the half for a big 34-15 lead at halftime.

Jayden Frank was the work horse in the third quarter, hitting two three-point shots and a jumper.  Morgan Ryerson ended the third quarter with a pair of three pointers that added to the already large lead, 56-23.

The bench took over in the fourth quarter and finished the game with a 62-28 win.

“We used a strong offensive effort in the second quarter to outscore them by 19 and take a commanding lead into the locker room,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.  “We were able to get the bench a lot of minutes, too.

Heitland and Frank led the team with 16 and 13 points respectively.  Ryerson came off the bench and sunk two threes, while Maddie Williams added five points.

Frank and Ryerson led under the boards with five rebounds apiece.  Mara Anderson grabbed four rebounds.

Heitland and Frank led the team in steals with three apiece.  Williams, Vanessa Olson and Sadie Oulman had two steals apiece.

Ryerson led in assists with three. Jade Hanson had three blocked shots.

“It was nice to open the conference season with a victory on the road,” said Erpelding.

Forest City 70, GHV 54

It was tough home opener for the Cardinals when they hosted Forest City on Friday, Dec. 1.  GHV had a hard time defending the conference champions, who return nearly their entire roster.  The Cards fell to the powerhouse, 70-54.

The Cardinals came out confident in the first quarter and outscored the Indians, 17-11.

“We had a strong first quarter, which was great to see.  We used some good shooting, along with a high energy defensive effort to pull ahead,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.

The Indians picked up their game in the second quarter and went on an 11-point run to go up 22-19.  The scoring onslaught continued with Forest City taking a 10-point lead into the half, 38-28.

The second half was closer, with GHV going on a run in the third quarter to close to the gap within six. That was as close as the Cardinals could get ,as they fell, 70-54.

“We allowed their pressure to rattle us, speeding us up and resulting in careless passing, which they turned into easy baskets,” said Erpelding.

Three players reached double figures for the Cardinals.  Jayden Frank was a perfect 5/5 from the three-point line to lead the team with 18 points.  Jillian Heitland and Maddie Williams each had 11-points.  Jade Hanson finished with seven points.

Mara Anderson led the team in rebounds with six.  Morgan Ryerson grabbed five and Williams and Hanson each had four boards.  Williams and Anderson led the team in assists with three apiece.  Anderson also had two blocked shots.

Osage 68, GHV 21

Giving up offensive rebounds and turnovers killed the Cardinals on Saturday, Dec. 2, when they faced Osage on the road.  The Green Devils handed GHV a 68-21 loss.

“We simply didn’t show up to play this game,” said Coach Matt Erpelding.  “We struggled executing our press break, which prevented us from getting into any flow offensively.  On the defensive end we got absolutely destroyed on the boards.”

The Cardinals turned the ball over 33 times and were only 19 percent shooting from the line.

Osage went up 34-12 by halftime and continued adding to the lead the entire second half, outscoring them 16-8 in the third quarter and 18-1 in the fourth.

“I was afraid we might be flat after giving such a great effort on Friday, but I didn’t think it would be anything like that,” said Erpelding.

No one had a great game against Osage.  Morgan Ryerson and Jayden Frank led the team with five points apiece.

Mara Anderson did the best under the boards with eight rebounds.  Jillian Heitland grabbed four.

Heitland led the team in steals with three, followed by Frank with two.  Ryerson, Frank and Nicole Upmeyer all had one blocked shot apiece.

The team hosts Belmond-Klemme on Friday night, Dec. 8.  Game time is 6:15 p.m.