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Urbandale upends MHS girls

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown junior guard Erica Johnson (4) goes up for the shot over Urbandale’s Faith Putz (23) during the second half of Saturday’s game at the Roundhouse.

The Marshalltown girls basketball team had a chance to build off a win over Fort Dodge on Friday night with a strong performance against Urbandale on Saturday afternoon in the Roundhouse.

The J-Hawks quickly thwarted any of the Bobcats’ plans, however, as they started the game on a 29-0 run in the first quarter.

Urbandale would go on to beat MHS, 54-19, and Bobcat head coach Stacy O’Hare said it was the terrible start that sunk any of her team’s chances.

“First quarter we just came out very flat, didn’t play with any intensity,” she said. “We had turnovers, weren’t getting back on defense, if anything could go wrong it basically did in the first quarter. The second quarter was a little bit better, but not a whole lot.”

By halftime the J-Hawks (4-4) owned a 39-4 lead over the Bobcats (2-6). Urbandale had seven makes from behind the 3-point line in the first quarter alone, with Abby Burk hitting four and DeeDee Pryor draining three. Pryor would lead the way for the J-Hawks with 18 points, while Burk finished with 15 on five made 3-pointers.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

The second half was much more competitive, as Marshalltown matched Urbandale with 15 points apiece.

“I thought we came out of the half with a little bit more intensity, trying to be a little bit more aggressive on offense and defense,” O’Hare said. “We rebounded a little bit but you can’t spot a team 29 points in the first quarter, we have to come out and play harder.”

When going into halftime trailing by 35 points it can be tough to rally the troops to come out swinging in the second half, but O’Hare said she reminded her girls that the only one who can turn things around on the court was them.

“I just got after them a little bit, told them they had to have some pride, go out and play hard,” she said. “You can’t use the whole, ‘oh we played last night,’ as an excuse because Urbandale played last night. I know we are tired but we have to play through it. We have to play with a lot of heart, go out and give your best effort.”

Erica Johnson had eight points to lead the Bobcats, six of which came in the second half. Madi Finch was next with four points and Lily Roberts made use of her limited time on the court with three points, making her only shot of the game and a following free throw after getting fouled while going up.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Marshalltown doesn’t get much time to rest before heading into the winter break, however, as it has to travel to West Des Moines to play Class 5A No. 2 Valley on Tuesday, then it returns home to host 4A No. 2 Mason City in the Roundhouse on Thursday.

O’Hare said she wants her girls to not back down from their quality opponents remaining on the schedule before going to break.

“I want to see them go out and play hard in every game from the get-go,” she said. “We can’t come out and be down and not play with any intensity in the first quarter and spot teams points. We’ve got two tough opponents next week and we have to come out and play hard.”

The Bobcats and Tigers face off in West Des Moines on Tuesday, starting at 6:15 p.m.

Urbandale 54, Marshalltown 19

At Marshalltown

URBANDALE (4-4) — DeeDee Pryor 7 0-0 18, Maya Gyamfi 3 0-0 6, Abby Burk 5 0-0 15, Madi Lynch 0 0-0 0, Jada Gyamfi 3 1-2 7, Sierra Herzberg 0 2-2 2, McKenna Cole 0 0-0 0, Payton Oetting 0 0-0 0, Faith Putz 0 0-0 0, Macy Gaskill 1 0-0 2, Loraine Koua 0 0-0 0, Kiersten Baker 0 0-0 0, April Czarnecki 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 21 3-4 54.

MARSHALLTOWN (2-6) — Alyvia Chadderdon 1 0-0 2, Erica Johnson 3 2-2 8, Kyra Feldman 0 0-0 0, Madi Finch 2 0-0 4, Gabby Himes 0 0-0 0, Lily Roberts 1 1-1 3, Shakeiya Taylor 1 0-0 2, Emma Younkin 0 0-0 0, Priscila Vergara 0 0-0 0, Olivia Brintnall 0 0-0 0, Paige Wertzberger 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 3-3 19.

URBANDALE 29 10 11 4 — 54

MHS 2 2 10 5 — 19

3-Point Goals–URB 9 (Burk 5, Pryor 4). Total Fouls–URB 13, MHS 4. Fouled Out–none.

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