Cardinals defeat South Hardin in Class 2A District 3 game

by Michelle Watson

Friday night’s Class 2A District 3 tournament game that pitted Garner-Hayfield-Ventura against South Hardin had fans on the edge of their seats.  The Cardinals owned most of the game, but South Hardin didn’t give up and came back to give GHV a run for their money.

“I thought we did a great job of coming out early and establishing what we wanted to do on both sides of the floor,” said Coach Jake Young.  “We were able to build a large lead in the second quarter by executing on the offensive end and getting some easy buckets off turnovers.”

The first quarter was close, with the Cardinals managing to gain a three-point advantage, 14-11.

An eight-point run to open the second quarter gave the Cards a 22-11 lead.  The Tigers fought back and pulled to within five points before James Betz hit a shot from the three-point line to take a 30-22 lead into the half.

South Hardin made some adjustments at halftime and came back to outscore GHV 7-2 to pull the score to within three-points, 32-29.  Two three-point shots gave the Tigers their first lead of the game, 37-36.

“We weren’t able to put them away and South Hardin made some good plays to get themselves back in the game,” said Young.  “We forced them into a lot of tough shots that they were able to somehow make.”

The Tigers hung around until the Cardinals were able to get some separation at the end of the game.

Landon Dalbeck stepped it up, putting in seven points.  Justin Reding hit some crucial free throws at the end of the game for the Cardinals to pull off the 59-53 victory.

“I was proud of the way the guys handled the pressure situations and made free throws when it mattered most.  We gained some great experience in late game situations that we will need later on if we want to win more big games,” said Young.

Betz and Dalbeck both had a stellar nights and led the Cards in multiple areas.  Betz had 22-points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and six blocked shots. Dalbeck added 16-points, hauled in five rebounds, and had three steals, one assist and one blocked shot.

Rounding out the scoring was Kevin Meyers with nine-points, Reding added six, Jared Graham chipped in four and Brody Boehnke had two-points.

Reding led the team under the boards with nine rebounds.  Meyers grabbed five.

Graham led the team in assists with six and he had one steal.

The win moves the Cardinals one step closer to a State berth.  GHV met South Hamilton on Tuesday night, Feb. 19, in Webster City.  Results of that game will be available in next week’s edition of the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter.